Oh goodie! Everyone now has a free pass to eat at the conservative Christian-founded Chik-fil-A, excepts vegans because there is no kale patty there. The fast-food company’s non-profit arm claims they have dropped their support of anti-gay groups in order to pursue the mighty dollar, worshiping Mammon and putting profits before the Chick-fil-A’s founding family principlesUm, no more like non-profits before the IRS. Let’s read between the lines here at this article from the Chicago Phoenix:

After months of negotiations with [Chicago] Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno over its anti-gay positions and donations, Chick-fil-A has agreed to cease donations from its non-profit charity to anti-gay organizations and issued a company-wide internal mandate calling for the equal treatment of all employees and customers.

WinShape, a non-profit funded by Chick-fil-A, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT organizations — some classified hate groups — including Focus on the Family, according to The Civil Rights Agenda, which worked with Moreno and company executives in an advisory capacity as they negotiated to adopt new policies. Repeated attempts to confirm the information with Chick-fil-A have been unsuccessful….

The company outlined its shift in policy and practice in a letter addressed to Moreno (1st), who in July declared that he would block the popular fast food chain from opening a new location in his ward unless they changed their anti-gay policies. The letter, signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate reads, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.” [emphasis mine]

So let’s see. The company was facing a difficult time expanding into Chicago. And will not be supporting political agendas. Giving money to groups that work to keep marriage equality off the ballot, or who work to defeat marriage equality at the ballot, is a political agenda.

Meanwhile the anti-marriage group National Organization for Marriage states that they have never received any funds form WinShape. The group which has campaigned heavily against marriage equality said in a statement form their president Brian Brown:

Despite recent news articles claiming Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation donated money to our organization—this is false. The National Organization for Marriage has never received funding from them. We support Chick-fil-A’s philosophy that every person is treated with ‘honor, dignity and respect—regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender;’ and we will continue to endorse ‘Chick-fil-A Wednesdays’

Moreno, who made headlines this summer when he said he would seek to block Chick-fil-A opening in his ward, told the Chicago Tribune that Chick-fil-will issue a statement on non-discrimination.

Moreno said the statement will be included in a memo called “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are” to be distributed to all corporate employees and restaurant operators. The alderman said the memo will state the company’s commitment to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” It also would state that it is the company’s “intent … not to engage in political or social debates.”

The statement does not seem to cover employment discrimination. Since 20o2 the privately-held corporation has been sued at least twelve times for discrimination.  While Chick-fil-A spokespeople didn’t return calls from reporters, it has not contested Alderman Moreno’s statements.

Over at our sister page, Pam’s House Blend, Pam Spaulding wonders

how the  all of those people who lined up for the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day and spewed bible-beating homophobia to justify the corporation’s open support for hate groups (insisting it was really just about ‘free speech” opposing marriage equality)…

 feel about the company now. The bottom line is at the corporate level , Chick-Fil-A realized institutionalized homophobia is bad for business.

And I wonder if NOM will quietly disband Chick-fil-A Wednesdays. But how can you keep filk away after they’d had waffle fries?

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, a North Carolina native,  says he and his fiance Sean Eldridge will donate $10 to Equality North Carolina for each new “Like” on the group’s Facebook page, up to $10,000. That’s a 1,000 Likes which should be no problem! Who doesn’t like weddings? The money is vital to stave off the North Carolina legislative sneak attack on marriage equality: HB 61.

Originally HB 61 sought to limit the terms of elected officials. QNotes reports that term limits have been removed from the bill and replaced with the text of the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment which

seeks to clarify an earlier Senate version which banned all recognition of all relationships other than marriage. The new version retains language that calls opposite-sex marriage the state’s “only domestic legal union,” but adds,  ”This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.”

In his letter, Chris Hughes writes:

Because there could not be a more critical time to support the work of Equality NC, my fiancé, Sean Eldridge, and I have pledged to donate $10 for each person who likes Equality NC’s page on Facebook – up to $10,000 – to support the work of the organization between now and Tuesday. We hope that others will join us and contribute what they can of their time, energy, and resources to help defeat this anti-gay measure…

The next Facebook or Apple or Google could be created by another North Carolinian. Be mindful of how you treat them and their families.

photo: Creative Commons: hiroshiken

If  you ever needed evidence beyond the absurdist creations on Cupcake Wars–Cheeto topped cupcakes, anyone?—that the gourmet cupcake craze is over, rap group Odd Future have proven without a doubt that the frosted, twee fad food is absolutely dead.

Before Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA)–a foul-mouthed Los Angeles based rap group signed to Sony Records, fond of the usual conjugations and variants of that four-letter f-word; tired, overused, crude terms for women;  expressions of violence including kidnapping, rape, and murder; sexual epithets; as well as  expounding anti-gay sentiments–played Chicago’s Pitchfork Festival in what music critic Jim DeRogatis called

the most controversial booking in the seven-year history of the Pitchfork Music Festival

the band, accompanied by their publicist, passed out cupcakes to volunteers manning the festival’s outreach booths for LGBTQ awareness, domestic violence resources, and rape victim advocates– groups whose message was specifically geared

to counter what they [the organizations] saw as dangerous expressions of hate, violence and homophobia in Odd Future’s music.

DeRogatis called Odd Future an

unexceptional live hip-hop act, no better or worse than a hundred other mediocre ones you’ve seen before, albeit even more than usually foul-mouthed,

while Chicago Sun Times’ Thomas O’Connor recounted that

the 45-minute set was a very average hip-hop show…nothing radical.

In a break between songs (which O’Connor described as)

hate speech…more like listening to Oi! (a racist punk subgenre) without guitars

replete with plenty of

f–k you bitch…f–ckin ‘ho…smack you, bitch

ad nauseum, lead singer Tyler the Creator acknowledged the recipients of his cupcake diplomacy with

“A big shoutout to the domestic violence groups out here”

then launched into one of the group’s masterpieces “I Got a Gun (You Better Run).” I guess that passes as humor? Irony?

As Odd Future closed with “Pidgeons,” with its chorus of

Kill people, burn s—, f— school

Tyler the Creator dedicated

this beautiful song to everyone who don’t like me, every protester … everyone writing a faggot-ass review of this show.

And what did Tyler tweet to fans along a photo of himself holding a box of cupcakes out to a volunteer?

Went And Gave The People Who Don’t Like Us Some Cupcakes.

Yes, the cupcake is dead, its final death throes not cause by perky bakers with squeaky, childlike voices and frilly aprons squeezing swirls of rose-scented, pink sparkly butter cream onto variations of red velvet bombes; but by crass performers who shallowly grandstanded the treats as calculated sop for the ignorance they spew.

[HT: Pop N Stuff/WBRZ.org, Thomas O'Connor]

photo: screenshot from the Food Network show Cupcake Wars