Chick-Fil-A May Have More Than Just Chicken Blood On Its Hands

In 2009, Chick-Fil-A's charitable arm, Winshape [1], donated to Exodus International [2], a group whose mission was "to effectively communicate the message of liberation from homosexuality." [3]

Later in 2009, three American Evangelical speakers, including a board member from Exodus, attended a conference on homosexuality in Uganda.

The New York Times reported [4] that the three men were "Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including '7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child'; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads 'healing seminars'; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International."

The focus of the conference, as reported by the Times, was on “'the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda'” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family."

The three American men discussed, according to the Times, "how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how 'the gay movement is an evil institution' whose goal is 'to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.'"

One month after the conference, a Ugandan politician introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatened to hang homosexuals. It quickly became known as the "Kill the Gays" bill.

Upon learning that they had inspired so much anger with their rhetoric, all three men tried to distance themselves from "Kill the Gays". They told the Times that they had not intended to stoke such hostility as to inspire a bill that would impose a death penalty for homosexuality.

"I feel duped," Mr. Schmierer, the Exodus board member, told the Times. But, while he did acknowledge that he did explain to his audience "how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals," he disavowed any knowledge that a Ugandan politician would draft a "Kill the Gays" bill.

“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” Schmierer told the Times, “some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

Mr. Lively, on the other hand, acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss the bill. Lively also wrote in his blog that a Ugandan social observer had predicted that the three Americans' campaign to demonize homosexuals would improve the "moral climate" of Uganda.  The observer, according to Mr. Lively, told him what he, Mr. Schmierer and Mr. Brundidge did was akin to “a nuclear bomb against" gays in Uganda. To which Mr. Lively asserted, "I pray that this, and the predictions, are true." [5]

One independent observer of the larger Evangelical anti-gay movement in Africa told the Times that the three American men had "underestimated the homophobia in Uganda” and “what it means to Africans when you speak about a certain group trying to destroy their children and their families."

“When you speak like that," he told the Times, "Africans will fight to the death.”

There is a lot of misunderstanding, in this country, as to why the gay community is so upset about a fast-food company taking a public stand against LGBT rights.

The quick and simple of it, is this, hateful rhetoric inspires hate.  It inspires bullies; it inspires suicide; it inspires murder; and, in the case of Uganda, it even inspires the death penalty.

But, to many, it may not seem so controversial, or hateful, to say that your company is "very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit," as Chick-Fil-A did.  It should be noted here that the language Chick-Fil-A used closely mimics the messaging of the Ugandan anti-gay conference.

Some may not make the connection that this is a code. A code that comes from a place that demonizes and inspires hatred. It is rhetoric grounded in Churches that demean and degrade gay, lesbian, bisexual,  nd transgendered people, as something lesser than what God intended.

Some who defend Chick-fil-A's First Amendment right, are right to do so.  But Chick-fil-A donates to organizations that are actively working to deny or take away the rights of those they deem to be immoral.  Organizations that go to places like Uganda to preach that "the gay movement is an evil institution" and that "gay men sodomize teenage boys".Chick-fil-A supports organizations who believe that homosexuality is the same as pedophilia or bestiality. They support organizations that preach so much hatred that it leads to murder.

In 2010, The Guardian reported that a Ugandan newspaper known as Rolling Stone, "published a story featuring the names, and in some cases, photographs of 100 homosexuals under the headline 'Hang Them'". [7]

The Rolling Stone "Hang Them" story was published just days before the one year anniversary of the day the "Kill the Gays" bill was introduced.  The Guardian reported that the bill was "inspired at least in part by a group of US evangelicals with close links to Uganda."

The "Kill the Gays" bill had "fueled hate speech and created a climate of fear among homosexuals," the Guardian said. "The media have played a strong role in this. The widely read tabloid Red Pepper had already 'outed' dozens of gay people under headlines such as 'Top Homos in Uganda named'."

Uganda's Rolling Stone paper, though, went further. It wrote that gays would "recruit 1,000,000 children by 2012".  "Parents," the paper said, "face heart-break as homos raid schools."  The paper then urged their readers to "hang them; They are after our kids!!" and then printed the names, addresses and photographs of those they had identfied as "homos".

Last year, a prominent Ugandan gay rights activist was murdered. David Kato's picture was featured on the front page of the issue carrying the "Hang Them" headline. Mr. Kato had reported increased harassment after winning a court victory over the newspaper's call for him, and other homosexuals in Uganda, to be hanged.

Mr. Kato was bludgeoned to death in his home just weeks later. [8]

It would seem, then, that Chick-fil-A may have more than just chicken blood on its hands.

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Rachel Maddow did extensive coverage on the "Kill the Gays" bill. I recommend  her reports to help you assess the enormity of the destruction of life that Exodus and other Evangelical organizations inspire around the world through their Anti-Gay Crusade.

http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2009/12/04/maddow-uganda-be-kidd...

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Sources

[1] (Winshape: http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Company/Winshape)

[2] (Winshape 2009 tax filing: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/581/581595471/58159547...)

[3] (http://web.archive.org/web/20101226075346/http://www.exodusinternational...)

[4] (New York Times - "Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push" - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html)

[5] (http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/archives.php?id=2345952)

[6] (http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2009/12/04/maddow-uganda-be-kidd...)

[7] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/21/ugandan-paper-gay-people-hanged

[8] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/ugandan-gay-rights-activist-murdered