Canadians say they’ll boycott anti-gay Chick-fil-A’s first Toronto branches
Chick-fil-A has donated millions of dollars to anti-gay causes. (Getty)
Canadians are threatening to boycott Chick-fil-A outlets, set to open in Toronto from next year onwards, on social media.
The fast food restaurant chain, whose CEO openly opposes same-sex marriage, recently announced plans to open around 15 branches in the Toronto area over the next five years, reports Business Insider.
It marks the first major international expansion for the fried chicken company, having previously opened a branch in Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Canada, which was the first Chick-fil-A outlet outside the US.
However, Canadians have taken to social media to voice their disapproval of the move, using the hashtag “#BoycottChickFilA.”
One Twitter use wrote: “Just a friendly Canadian reminder that we are a progressive country and have morals and fight for equal rights for all. We don’t want your bigoted and discriminatory business opening anywhere north of the border. #BoycottChickFilA.”
Another said: “Toronto has tons of great chicken places already, and none of them are run by homophobes. Support those places instead #BoycottChickFilA.”
And one person vented: “Ok Torontonians – let’s show @ChickfilA that their company & politics aren’t welcome here. There are a lot of other great chicken restaurants in town that we can go to instead. #BoycottChickFilA.”
PinkNews has contacted Chick-fil-A for comment.
The controversy comes after a McDonald’s branch in Glastonbury, Connecticut, changed the message on its entrance sign to “we welcome everyone,” in a pointed jibe at a Chick-fil-A joint, which recently opened next door.
Speaking to LGBTQ Nation, the manager of the McDonald’s joint told LGBTQ Nation that the new message on the sign “just means that everyone is welcome, young old, everyone.”
Just a friendly Canadian reminder that we are a progressive country and have morals and fight for equal rights for all. We don’t want your bigoted and discriminatory business opening anywhere north of the border. #BoycottChickFilA
— Chris Lotts (@chrislotts1) July 26, 2018
Owner of the Chick-fil-A Glastonbury branch Jordan Snook told LGBTQ nation that he was not sure what the McDonald’s sign refers to, but added that he wanted to oversee “an environment of hospitality.”
He explained:”We are excited to open in Glastonbury next week, and look forward to being great neighbours who welcome everyone.”
Tina Manus, a customer at the Glastonbury McDonald’s told NBC’s local affiliate: “For McDonald’s to step up and say we welcome everyone. I feel that is a huge step for them. Then in the background you have Chick-fil-A who has historically not welcomed everyone.”
In 2012, it emerged that Chick-fil-A had donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups, including the Family Research Council, ‘gay cure’ group Exodus International and Focus on the Family.
Ok Torontonians – let’s show @ChickfilA that their company & politics aren’t welcome here. There are a lot of other great chicken restaurants in town that we can go to instead. #BoycottChickFilA https://t.co/hRgPgolZRa
— Leah Piltz (@leahpiltz) July 25, 2018
CEO Dan Cathy later confirmed the company was opposed to marriage equality and “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.”
Cathy told Baptist Press at the time: “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
In June, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, came under fire for supporting fast food chain Chick-fil-A.
McDonald’s recently changed the entrance sign at its branch in Glastonbury, Connecticut, throwing shade at Chick-fil-A. (RussellBlairCT/Twitter)
Dorsey had tweeted a payment that hemade to the restaurant using Square, a mobile payment service he owns.
In April last year, students at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh protested the arrival of a Chick-fil-A branch on campus.
Student senator Niko Martini told The Duquesne Duke: “Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights and human rights.”
“I think it’s imperative [that] the university chooses to do business with organisations that coincide with the [university’s] mission and expectations they give students regarding diversity and inclusion.”
