Chick-fil-A CEO avoids direct answer on LGBTQ+ stance

Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy emphasized the chain’s hospitality and its welcome to customers during an interview on October 14, but did not directly answer whether the company’s position on LGBTQ+ rights had changed. Asked about criticism over the company’s history of donations to organizations viewed as opposing LGBTQ+ equality, Cathy said the chain was focused on serving everyone who came in to eat. He encouraged people who had not tried Chick-fil-A to visit and experience its food and hospitality. When interviewer Craig Melvin pressed him about the company’s past, Cathy returned to the message that all customers were welcome. The interview did not establish Chick-fil-A’s current position on LGBTQ+ rights or whether its charitable-giving policies have changed since 2019. That year, the company announced it would focus donations on organizations working in education, homelessness and hunger. The announcement followed scrutiny of earlier donations by the Chick-fil-A Foundation to groups including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army. Reporting at the time cited tax filings showing donations totaling more than $1.