Chick-fil-a as an organization has faced much controversy due to CEO Dan Cathy’s public opposition of LGBTQ rights. In addition, donations of over $1 million are made on behalf of Chick-fil-a to organizations such as the Marriage and Family Foundation, a Virginia based non-profit whose mission is “to empower families in Virginia by applying a biblical worldview and founding principles to culture and public policy.” Aside from this blatant attack on the first amendment’s religious freedom clause and the separation of church and state, this organization is also responsible for keeping sexual orientation and gender identity from being protected classes in Virginia’s nondiscrimination policy. This, along with their donations to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army—two other organizations promoting anti-LGBTQ ideologies—means that every dollar spent at Chick-fil-a directly funds anti-LGBTQ discrimination, including so called “conversion therapy.” Furthermore, Chick-fil-a has no formal protections for LGBTQ employees. According to the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent Corporate Equality Index, Chick-fil-a was rated at 0 out of 100 for LGBTQ inclusiveness. For comparison, Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, scored an 80, Starbucks scored a 100, and our former dining services contractor, Sodexo, scored a 100. The new dining services contractor, Chartwells, was not included in the data. Section 3.02 of Wichita State University’s Policies and Procedures is our Notice of Nondiscrimination, which reaches beyond the required protected classes to include ancestry, color, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, political affiliation, pregnancy, and sexual orientation. If we as a University are truly invested in protecting and serving our students, this policy must be reflected in the companies our university chooses to work with or else any efforts to make our campus more safe and inclusive will be in vain. The fact that my money directly funds discrimination through the university’s choices is unacceptable. The fact that Chick-fil-a is still here serves as a painful reminder that I, along with my LGBTQ peers, aren’t welcome here.

Rexy Que – They/Them/Theirs