Chick-fil-A donated more than $1.8m to anti-LGBT charities

The company said its giving has always focused on 'youth and education'

Chick-fil-A donated more than $1.8m to charities that support anti-LGBT rights in 2017 (Stock)

Chick-fil-A donated more than $1.8m to anti-LGBT charities through the Chick-fil-A Foundation, new tax filings show.

In 2017, the Georgia-based chicken chain, which is run on its founder’s conservative Christian beliefs, donated more than $1.6m to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which requires its employees to refrain from “homosexual acts,” according to ThinkProgress.

It also gave $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, which teaches boys that same-sex marriage is “rage against Jesus Christ and His values”.

Chick-fil-A's continued support for charities that discriminate against LGBT people comes after president Dan Cathy sparked outrage in 2005 with comments regarding same-sex marriage.

Appearing on the Ken Coleman talk show, Cathy said: “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’”.

Chick-fil-A later issued a public apology in which the company announced it would be leaving the “policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena”.

The chicken company has previously said it would stop donating to anti-gay causes, according to ThinkProgress, which was disproved with the release of the company’s 2017 tax filings.

In a statement to ThinkProgress regarding the continued financial support, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson said the company’s giving “has always focused on youth and education” and it has “never donated with the purpose of supporting a social or political agenda”.

The company also said that it would no longer be donating to the Paul Anderson Youth Home moving forward, as a 2010 blog post “surfaced that does not meet Chick-fil-A’s commitment to creating a welcoming environment to all”.

The Independent has contacted Chick-fil-A for comment.