BERKSHIRE, England – Shortly after Chick-fil-A opened its first restaurant in the UK, the location is set to close amid pressure from gay rights groups over past donations to anti-LGBTQ groups.
Amid calls for boycott, shopping center The Oracle decided eight days after Chick-fil-A opened that “the right thing to do” was to let the restaurant’s six-month trial lease expire, The BBC reports.
The family-owned business, based in Atlanta, has been the criticized in the past for helping fund groups that condemn homosexuality. Think Progress reports that Chick-fil-A donated $1.8 million to “discriminatory groups” in 2017.
The company’s CEO, Dan T. Cathy, also made comments in 2012 about gay marriage that ignited a backlash online.
Chick-fil-A addressed protests over donations, saying in a March statement that the Chick-fil-A Foundation’s giving “helps with economic mobility of young people by focusing on homelessness and poverty, education, and community revitalization, and is done with no political or social agenda.”