VENTURA, Calif. — The principal at a Southern California high school has barred a booster club from selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches on campus because of the chain’s position on same-sex marriage.
KCAL-TV reports that Ventura High School Principal Val Wyatt would not allow the football booster club to not sell Chick-fil-A sandwiches at Wednesday’s back-to-school night because the restaurant’s beliefs might offend some students and their parents.
The booster club expected to raise about $1,600 for the football team when the local Chick-fil-A restaurant volunteered to donate 200 meals.
“With their political stance on gay rights and because the students of Ventura High School and their parents would be at the event, I didn’t want them on campus,” Wyatt said.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
District Superintendent Trudy Tuttle Arriaga said Ventura schools “value inclusivity and diversity on our campus and all of our events and activities are going to adhere to our mission.”
Since 2003, the WinShape Foundation, Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, has donated over $5 million to several anti-gay groups, including Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Family Research Council, Exodus International (once the world’s largest promoter of “ex-gay” therapy) and the Marriage & Family Legacy Fund.
Article continues below
In 2012, Chick-fil-A Chairman, Dan Cathy, publicly denounced same-sex marriage, telling the the Baptist Press that the company was “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.”
The Ventura Chick-fil-A has previously donated $21,000 to Ventura schools.