So Monday, the Chick-fil-A Foundation (the charity arm of the chain) announced the introduction of a “more targeted donation approach” for next year. It will “step up its giving to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the fields of education, homelessness and hunger,” and has committed $ 9 million to organizations such as Junior Achievement USA, which promotes work preparation and financial literary skills of students. up to grade 12, as well as Covenant House International, which cares for 70,000 homeless, runaway and trafficked youth each year.

But it will no longer make multi-year charitable commitments and will now reassess its philanthropy year after year. And that includes not renewing his annual donations to The Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, as reported by the Washington Post, which are two religious organizations that have made controversial statements about homosexuality and same-sex marriage in the past.

But rather than praising Chick-fil-A for being more inclusive and pro-gay rights, many people on Twitter TWTR,
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– including some identifying themselves as Christians and conservatives – slam the chain for deflating in the face of a “leftist crowd.”

“You have caved in to the extremists and are no longer a Christian enterprise,” wrote one.

Even people who support Chick-fil-A’s decision have expressed skepticism about whether the restaurant is just hugging LGBTQ groups. Indeed, its CEO, Dan Cathy, said he did not support same-sex marriage in 2012.

Still others have complained that The Salvation Army is not an anti-LGBTQ organization at all. While the fact-checking site Snopes notes that the Salvation Army Doctrine Manual has referred to biblical passages that condemned sexual intimacy between members of the same sex in the past, the Salvation Army has dismissed such accusations of discrimination, and has an entire section on its website dedicated to the LGBTQ community, which details how its services are accessible to everyone.

The Salvation Army released a statement in response on Monday, expressing disappointment with Chick-fil-A for withdrawing her donations and reinforcing her commitment to the LGBTQ community. “We are saddened to learn that a corporate partner has found it necessary to divert funds to other organizations against hunger, education and homelessness – areas in which The Salvation Army, as a largest social service provider in the world, is already fully engaged ”it reads. “We serve over 23 million people a year, including those in the LGBTQ + community. In fact, we believe we are the largest provider of poverty relief for the LGBTQ + population. He also urged the public to “seek the truth before rushing to misinformed judgment.”

The community of Christian athletes declares on its website, however, that “marriage is exclusively the union of a man and a woman”. And an employee request includes a statement of purity that reads: “Neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitutes an alternative lifestyle acceptable to God.” ”

Tim Tassopoulos, President and COO of Chick-fil-A, Inc., emailed MarketWatch the following statement in response to the response: “Our goal is to donate to the most effective organizations in the world. the areas of education, homelessness and hunger. No organization will be excluded from future considerations, whether denominational or not.

Of course, Chick-fil-A is no stranger to backlash. And maybe there is nothing to fear here. After all, despite its controversial history, Chick-fil-A has been named America’s favorite fast food restaurant for the past four years in a row.

Read more:Chick-fil-A remains America’s favorite fast food restaurant, despite donating to anti-LGBT groups