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Rainbow Flag Creator Joins NYU Students In Battle Against Chick-Fil-A
By
Kate Schaefer
Published Apr 19, 2012
Modified Apr 19, 2012
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By
Kate Schaefer
Published Apr 19, 2012
Modified Apr 19, 2012
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At noon today a small but committed group of NYU students were joined by Gilbert Baker, the designer of the rainbow flag which has come to symbolize LGBT culture and equality, for a protest against chicken corporation Chick-Fil-A. Organized by student Hillary Dworkoski, protesters—some dressed as chickens—marched in front of the university carrying signs saying "Eat more equality," and "Don't feed us hate."
In case you're still in the dark about how a delicious chicken sandwich came to cause such an uproar, Dworkoski explains, "Chick-Fil-A, in 2009 alone, through their tax records, it shows that they donated two million dollars through their charitable arm, WinShape, to anti-gay groups including Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Exodus International. Exodus International, for example, tries to cure gay people through ex-gay therapy. Family Research Council is one of the groups that spread lies about gay people, they say that pedophilia is a homosexual problem."
While only one Chick-Fil-A exists in New York City (on the NYU campus), that is one too many for gay rights activists. On January 20th, Dworkoski started her change.org petition to drive out the homophobic chain. Three months later, she has almost 13,000 signatures. While other vendors can be banned from campus for human rights violations, John Sexton (President, NYU) and the Student Senators Council maintain that this is a political issue, and they can't get involved, "I guess they just don't see that gay rights are human rights," says Dworkoski.
Dworkoski has been fighting this cause for a while and is running for a spot as Senator so that she can be on the Student Senators Council next year and pursue Chick-Fil-A through student government. "Even if Chick-Fil-A is never banned from campus, at least we're raising awareness about it and that's 13,000 more people that aren't eating Chick-Fil-A," Dworkoski told us today. And over at Gawker today, GOOD magazine editor Cord Jefferson brings the hammer down on all those who continue to give Chick-Fil-A their business.
Tagged
bad chicken
chick-fil-a
gay rights
human rights
NYU
Kate Schaefer
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