Students are enticed with Chick-fil-A's delicious chicken sandwiches and greasy waffle fries in the Atrium. You can't forget the sauce either. During the lunch and dinner rush, the line for the fast-food chain snakes around all the other food vendors. While one may think that it's just a harmless, satisfying meal, Chick-fil-A is now political.
Chick-fil-A donates millions of the profits customers spend to anti-gay organizations. Between 2003 and 2009, Chick-fil-A donated $3 million to organizations that support ex-gay therapy and condemn homosexuality, according to the publicly available IRS 990 Form of the WinShape Foundation, Chick-fil-A's charity arm. In 2010, it donated an additional $1,974,380. The company's president, Dan Cathy, recently said on the Baptist Press that he is anti-gay, even though he stated that Chick-fil-A has "no agenda on anyone." His company's monetary donations tell otherwise.
Why this issue is important to Ball State's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and their allies is because Chick-fil-A is on our campus. A fast-food restaurant that resides so close actively uses its profits to condemn and harm us, our family and friends.
Safezone is a program on campus that seeks to provide an open and safe environment for all members of the LGBTQ community here. Is having a food vendor that gives money to anti-gay, hate groups a true testament to that legacy?
Some may say that Chick-fil-A's situation is a first amendment issue, freedom of speech. Let me tell you that this is not the case. Cathy may voice his argument all he wants, but his company gives its money to groups that see our friends and family as pedophiles, sexual deviants and lesser beings.
Others argue that Cathy is entitled to his religious and personal beliefs. They argue that he is allowed to run his business the way he wants. However, Chick-fil-A uses its funds to harm a minority. It wishes to take away the civil rights and happiness that LGBTQ people deserve.
What would happen if another fast-food chain supported racist or sexist organizations? There would be outrage because it's ludicrous. LGBTQ people only want what they rightfully deserve; acceptance, tolerance and basic civil rights. Are chicken sandwiches and waffle fries really worth the lives of the ones we love?
With the overflow of media coverage of Chick-fil-A in recent weeks, people are tired of this argument. Chicken somehow flows into a conversation about marriage, the Constitution and its rights. It feels silly, unnecessary and redundant. It is just a chicken fast-food chain, right?
Nevertheless, the truth goes further than just chicken. Chick-fil-A does not provide a single protection or benefit to its LGBTQ employees. It donates millions against the cause of LGBTQ people. Does this corporation, and its environment, belong on Ball State? The students on campus deserve a true Safezone.
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