Faculty have reported joined students at Youngstown State University in supporting a petition to have Chick-fil-A removed from campus in an “act of solidarity” for the gay community as the restaurant is allegedly “Fried Food for Homophobes.”
In a Change.org petition, student Emmett Ray explains that Chick-fil-A is one of the few selections for restaurants on campus after 3 p.m. He claims, “More often than not, it's the only place to get food in the evenings.”
Even though Ray admits Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy said he regretted publicly opposing gay marriage in an interview, Ray asserts Chick-fil- is still funding “anti-LGBT organizations.” However, according to tax filings from 2012, it appears Chick-fil-A stopped donating to organizations such as the Marriage & Family Foundation and the National Christian Foundation.
According to Ray, replacing Chick-fil-A on campus would help the school’s “Campus Pride Index” score, which reportedly measures how pro-LGBT a school appears. The score reviews things such as how easy it is to self-identify sexual orientation on forms, whether there’s a specific LGBTQ alumni group, and out gay faculty. Youngstown State University has a rating of three out of five stars.
The petition claims the school offers “little accommodations for transgender students when it comes to getting their names changed in the system or living in appropriate dorms, and the only LGBT group on campus gets almost no visibility," while alleging the school has reportedly allowed “anti-LGBT speakers on campus.”
“The fact that the only restaurant they have open during the evenings is a notoriously anti-LGBT restaurant only adds to the negative experience of LGBT students on campus,” Ray’s petition continues.
Ray claims replacing the Chick-fil-A on campus “would not change the company's views or anything, but it would be an act of solidarity for the campus's LGBT students.”
To support his petition, Ray attached a photo reading, “Chick-fil-A: We didn’t invent Christian hate organizations, we just support them.”
One of 122 the petition supporters appears be a genetics professor at Youngstown State University, Heather Lorimer. She claims she has not been to the restaurant on campus because it was once a “respectable place,” but now it is “Fried Food for Homophobes.”
Ray told Campus Reform the point of the petition was not to actually have Chick-fil-A closed, but to “start a discussion.”
A spokesperson for Youngstown State University told Campus Reform they do not plan to close the Chick-fil-A, but are open to discussing the matter to make sure everyone feels “safe and secure.”
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