Yes, Chick-fil-A’s Foundation Still Donates to Anti-LGBTQ Causes

In fact, the donations even went up in 2017

New tax filings from chicken chain Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, show that the company is still directing donations to organizations with fairly solid anti-LGBTQ outlooks. Per ThinkProgress, the newly released filings from 2017 show that a hefty $1.65 million was donated to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which imposes a ban on “homosexual acts” for its employees (as well as a general “sexual purity” policy). $150,000 also went to the Salvation Army, which has a fraught history around LGBTQ issues; a small donation also went to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, which espouses fairly anti-gay views.

While Chick-fil-A threw some heavy duty cash around while the same-sex marriage debates were happening earlier this decade, the company has tried to temper its evangelical attitudes, last year proclaiming it has “no policy of discrimination against any group” after a New Jersey college barred the chain from its campus. It seems like they’re trying to spin technicalities here: Officially, it’s the Chick-fil-A Foundation that’s doing the donating here, not the main company. Still not a great look.

And in other news...

• It may have limp crudité status now, but just like Portlandia told us a few years ago, celery was once cool and was even a status symbol as late as the ’70s. [Quartz]
• In today’s edition of “robots are coming for your jobs,” McDonald’s wants to invest more in kiosks, apps, and the like. [Skift]
• An insightful look at how local food is making a resurgence in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. [NYT]
• Hawaii wants to ban a whole host of single-use plastics in restaurants — it would be the first state to do so. [The Public’s Radio]
• Uyghur food (from western China) is gaining prominence in the U.S., possibly as a result of Chinese government persecution of that ethnic group. [Mel Magazine]
• The Culinary Workers Union is pushing for major picket action because Las Vegas’ Palms Casino refuses to recognize a vote to unionize by casino workers. [Culinary Union]
• Here’s an interesting deep-dive into what happens when food supply chains are broken, and food runs out (centered heavily around Bosnia in the ’90s). [BBC]
• Check out how this Utah restaurant makes pickle pie — yes, that’s a dessert that incorporates pickles. [GreatBigStory]
• Toronto is getting a Garfield-themed restaurant (the cat, not the dead president); it seems poorly thought out given that the star food on offer is pizza, not lasagne. [TO Blog]
• Why didn’t we ever see Beto O’Rourke-style snaps of Hilary Clinton eating local foods while campaigning? The guy who ran her Instagram account explains. [Twitter]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]