This is a question I haven't heard the media ask, or the company address and I've become very curious about it. It seems they deserve to be heard on the controversy of late surrounding this company and if they exist, they have thus far been silent.
On July 19, Chick-Fil-A posted this message to their Facebook page (emphasis mine):
The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect -- regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.
I'm just curious, does Chick-Fil-A have any out and proud gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender members of its management employed at any of 1,600 stores, in any of the 39 states it operates franchises?
A number of the states that Chick-Fil-A operates in, such as California, Illinois, Colorado, New York and New Mexico have laws that affirm that gays, lesbians and bisexuals should be afforded equal employment opportunity both to be hired and promoted. (Some states also include gender identity.)
Surely, out of 1,600 outlets, Chick-Fil-A can produce a single out and proud LGBT member of management who will be happy to testify their company has always treated them with "honor, dignity and respect" even as they are out, gay and proud.
Chick-Fil-A's own website boasts of having over 600 corporate employees working as "project accountants," "IT specialists," "marketing coordinators," "field operations staff." Surely some gay and lesbian folks must have risen into Chick-Fil-A's corporate ranks, yes?
Chick-Fil-A wouldn't deprive themselves the opportunity to hire the best candidate for a job like IT or marketing, just because the candidate didn't have "Christian values," right?
(Might also be worth asking if they have any atheists, Muslims or Jews in the company's top management.)
Also, does Chick-Fil-A have, like many large companies, a gay employees group, like MGLAN (McDonald's Gay Lesbian Allies Network)? It's a fair question.
I think it would be great to hear what Chick-Fil-A's out and proud LGBT employees have to say about all this. They really deserve to have a voice in this public conversation.
Care to serve one up, Chick-Fil-A?