Today the European Commission services formally sent X a request for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This request follows indications received by the Commission services of the alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech. The request addresses compliance with other provisions of the DSA as well.
Following its designation as Very Large Online Platform, X is required to comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the DSA since late August 2023, including the assessment and mitigation of risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, disinformation, gender-based violence, and any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, rights of the child, public security and mental well-being.
In this particular case, the Commission services are investigating X’s compliance with the DSA, including with regard to its policies and actions regarding notices on illegal content, complaint handling, risk assessment and measures to mitigate the risks identified.
The Commission services are empowered to request further information to X in order to verify the correct implementation of the law.
X needs to provide the requested information to the Commission services by 18 October 2023 for questions related to the activation and functioning of X’s crisis response protocol and by 31 October 2023 on the rest.
Based on the assessment of X replies, the Commission will assess next steps. This could entail the formal opening of proceedings pursuant to Article 66 of the DSA.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has allowed an anti-LGBTQ+ group to spread hate speech and misinformation about LGBTQ+ people on its platforms in violation of the company’s policies for over a year, according to a new report from Media Matters for America.
The report, published by the media watchdog organization on Tuesday, details dozens of instances in which Gays Against Groomers used its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts to post anti-LGBTQ+ content, including false claims that trans people are mentally ill and that LGBTQ+ people embrace pedophilia, as well as misinformation about gender-affirming care and the false “groomer” narrative propagated by the anti-LGBTQ+ right.
All of this content appears to clearly violate Meta’s policies prohibiting hate speech, harassment and misinformation, and yet it has remained on the company’s platforms. As the report notes, Meta has also vowed to label false and misleading information as such and deprioritize it in feeds. But the company has failed to do so on Gays Against Groomers’s posts.
The report notes that Instagram in particular has a well-documented history of failing to moderate harmful content, especially when it comes to attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s an age-old problem that we’ve seen with Meta,” Media Matters research director Kayla Gogarty told The Advocate. Gogarty noted changes Elon Musk has made to Twitter, rebranded as X, since taking over the company last year. Last December, the company disbanded its Trust & Safety Council, which advised on the removal of hateful content.
“One of my biggest concerns is that they’re seeing Elon Musk’s kind of backsliding on enforcement and things like that [and] they’re seeing that almost as a permission structure for them to also backslide,” Gogarty said.
Gays Against Groomers’s very name and raison d’etre appear to be in violation of Meta’s hate speech policies. In July 2022, the company confirmed to The Daily Dot that baseless accusations of “grooming” aimed at LGBTQ+ people are governed under its policies prohibiting hate speech.
Launched in June 2022, Gays Against Groomers purports to be a “grassroots” coalition dedicated to “protecting children.” But as Media Matters reported in February, the group’s founder Jaimee Michell and its former chair and co-founder David Leatherwood “were pro-Trump operatives employed by right-wing communications firms representing other conservative figures who have attempted to capitalize off of the anti-LGBTQ fervor of the last two years.” In January, the Anti-Defamation League described the group as “an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist coalition” based on its peddling of “dangerous and misleading narratives about the LGBTQ+ community.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has also has also labeled Gays Against Groomers as “an extremist group.”
Since its June 6, 2022, launch, the group’s Instagram account has amassed over 357,000 followers. It has around 39,000 followers on Facebook and over 24,000 followers on Threads. While the group has been kicked off of platforms like Venmo, Paypal, and Google and has been suspended on Twitter multiple time prior to Musk’s takeover, Meta’s platforms have taken no action against its accounts. The group’s Facebook account was briefly suspended last week, but a source told The Daily Dot that the suspension was an error.
“Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are some of the few mainstream platforms that have not banned Gays Against Groomers, even though the group seems to have repeatedly violated the platforms’ policies,” the Media Matters report states.
In fact, Meta has profited off of ads promoting the false “groomer” narrative, despite publicly stating that use of the term to attack LGBTQ+ people violates its policies. An August 2022 report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Human Rights Campaign found that the company accepted up to $24,987 for 59 ads promoting the narrative on Facebook and Instagram. The following October, Media Matters identified over 150 ads featuring the slur that ran on Meta’s platforms.
According to The Advocate, a spokesperson for Meta said that examples of Gays Against Groomers posts documented in the Media Matters report were “non-violating.”
“If someone were to use the term ‘groomer’ as an attack against someone based on being part of the LGBTQ+ community, it violates our hate speech policies,” the Meta spokesperson clarified.
A report released by Media Matters for America, the media watchdog group, on Tuesday, criticizes Instagram, for its alleged failure to effectively moderate content posted by the controversial anti-trans organization Gays Against Groomers.
The report, which The Advocate is reporting exclusively, highlights a series of instances where Gays Against Groomers is accused of spreading harmful rhetoric about LGBTQ+ people on the platform, clearly violating Instagram’s community guidelines against hate speech, harassment, and misinformation.
One of the primary concerns raised by the report is the apparent inconsistency in Instagram’s enforcement of these content policies. While other prominent platforms, including PayPal and Google, have taken decisive action to ban Gays Against Groomers for alleged violations of their content guidelines, Instagram, which is owned by Meta, has allowed the group’s content to remain accessible for over a year, according to Media Matters.
This discrepancy has led to widespread questioning of Instagram’s commitment to effectively moderating harmful content, particularly content that targets marginalized communities. Gays Against Groomers has been labeled an extremist hate group by the Anti-Defamation League.
The report points out that Gays Against Groomers has faced multiple suspensions from the platform formerly known as Twitter, X, including at least one suspension for using the derogatory anti-LGBTQ+ “groomer” slur. The contrast between platforms raises questions about Instagram’s relative leniency in dealing with content violations, especially compared to sites that have taken more aggressive measures.
Gays Against Groomers Violates Instagram Terms
Gays Against Groomers has leveraged Instagram as one of its primary platforms, amassing over 357,000 followers since its creation in June 2022. The group has also joined Threads, Meta’s Twitter-like platform, where it has continued to post content criticized as hateful and false about LGBTQ+ people, according to the report.
The Instagram community guidelines emphasize the platform’s commitment to fostering a diverse and positive community. Expressly, these guidelines prohibit content that contains credible threats or hate speech, especially attacks on sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Instagram’s rules also direct users to Facebook’s hate speech policy, which prohibits content targeting people or groups based on their sexual orientation, gender, or sex.
The Media Matters report documents Gays Against Groomers’ alleged repeated use of derogatory terms like “groomers” and their dissemination of false narratives about the LGBTQ+ community. The accusations range from claims that LGBTQ+ people are actively “grooming” children to promoting harmful stereotypes. Some of the group’s posts also target companies and individuals publicly supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
Gays Against Groomers has repeatedly employed derogatory rhetoric, referring to the LGBTQ+ community as “groomers” and alleging that they are actively involved in nefarious activity with kids. These claims have raised concerns and sparked widespread outrage within the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.
Meta, however, seemingly has done little to curb this.
“It’s an age-old problem that we’ve seen with Meta,” Media Matters research director Kayla Gogarty told The Advocate. “One of my biggest concerns is that they’re seeing Elon Musk’s kind of backsliding on enforcement and things like that [and] they’re seeing that almost as a permission structure for them to also backslide.”
After Musk acquired Twitter in October last year, he promptly fired much of the platform’s trust and safety team, responsible for content moderation. Since then, Musk has removed safeguards that protect transgender people and even wrote that he considered the word “cisgender” as a slur on his social media site.
Gays Against Groomers Employs “Groomer” Libel
Meanwhile, on April 28, Gays Against Groomers posted on Instagram, asserting that LGBTQ+ people “are actively grooming kids into the Rainbow Cult,” seemingly citing a report that indicated “1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ.”
The group implied that this statistic resulted from LGBTQ+ individuals “grooming” children.
Further, the organization shared a TikTok video depicting children celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride, labeling it an “indoctrination ceremony.”
The caption on the post claimed that “Indoctrinated kids are groomed kids.”
The group’s rhetoric didn’t stop there. They also criticized a clip from Sesame Street celebrating Pride, accusing it of “grooming children for sexual orientation and sexual preference.” The caption characterized the video as “teaching toddlers about sex” and “grooming, point blank.”
Gays Against Groomers attacked Target for promoting LGBTQ+ clothing and products aimed at children, even calling for a boycott of the retail giant. The group replaced the Target sign with the word “groomers” in an image, claiming they would “no longer allow these companies to pervert our youth and groom them into the Gender Cult.”
These allegations have been met with strong opposition from LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations. Many have criticized Gays Against Groomers for spreading baseless claims and harmful stereotypes about LGBTQ+ people and their supportive initiatives. Medical organizations have also debunked their assertion that gender dysphoria is a “social contagion.”
Despite Gays Against Groomers’ self-presentation as a grassroots coalition dedicated to protecting children, Media Matters revealed that this group is composed of right-wing individuals with established ties to such organizations, linking the group’s founder, Jaimee Michell, and its former chair and co-founder, David Leatherwood, to right-wing firms and figures.
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed a widely criticized homophobic video attacking former President Donald Trump, a conflict within GAG resulted in Leatherwood leaving the organization over Michell’s continued support for DeSantis.
Nonetheless, in a recent Instagram post on June 10, the group claimed to be a volunteer-driven, grassroots effort, stating, “No one has pocketed a dime, and we have had zero big donors.”
Just months after coffee colossus Starbucks was accused of erasing Pride from store locations across the country, the company is being sued by a lesbian and gender non-conforming employee who claims she was passed over for promotion because she is “gay” and “looks like a boy.”
Jahmelia “Jay” Peters is suing Starbucks, claiming the company denied her a promotion at a White Plains, New York store despite previous experience in the role due to her sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression.
One store manager allegedly threw out Pride decorations rather than display them.
The store manager promoted a woman he was pursuing for sex instead, the suit claims.
The civil action, filed in New York Supreme Court, alleges unlawful discrimination and retaliation. Peters is seeking compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress, including back and front pay, as well as punitive damages for the manager’s “outrageous conduct.”
According to the complaint, Peters’ boss told store colleagues that she would not be promoted because she was “gay” and “looks like a boy.” Peters was subsequently fired while on break for questioning the manager’s decision.
Peters says she has yet to receive her final paycheck in what the suit characterizes as a final act of retaliation from the company.
The suit describes how a cisgender, straight female employee at the store whom the manager had taken an “inappropriate flirtatious interest in” was promoted to shift leader over Peters, despite having less experience and expressly stating that she did not want the promotion.
According to Peters’ lawyers, this was not the only woman in the store that the manager had sought to curry favor with in order to have a sexual relationship; he often shared intimate, flirtatious text messages with other straight female employees in the store.
“This is a human rights issue,” said Bennitta Joseph, Peters’ counsel with Joseph & Norinsberg LLC. “Ms. Peters was denied the civil right to fair treatment in the workplace based on her gender expression, identity, and her sexual orientation.”
The allegation comes just months after more than 3,500 Starbucks workers in 150 store locations went on strike in June, claiming regional managers in more than 100 Starbucks locations in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma shut down Pride displays after “consulting with upper leadership.”
Starbucks denied the allegations, saying it never asked any stores to remove their Pride decorations, and accused the union representing Starbucks employees, Starbucks Workers United, of spreading false information as a bargaining “tactic.”
Controversial US fast-food chain Chick-fil-A is planning a second attempt to launch in the UK, four years after closing its first restaurant following a backlash by LGBTQ+ rights campaigners.
The Atlanta-based chain, whose founders have notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ views, is reportedly set to launch a new UK outlet in early 2025 and hopes to expand to five sites within two years.
The project could cost the company around $100 million (£80.5 million) within the next decade, as part of the new attempt to capitalise on the UK’s customer base.
It first tried to establish a branch in Reading, in Berkshire, in 2019, but was forced to announce – just eight days later – that it would end its lease after six months following criticism from LGBTQ+ activists.
The chain’s founders, the Cathy family, have long been the subject of immense criticism over their donations to anti-LGBTQ+ groups, including Exodus International, which promoted so-called conversion therapy before its closure in 2013.
In 2021, Chick-fil-A chief executive, Dan Cathy, reportedly donated a huge amount of his $8 billion (£6.4 billion) net worth to groups such as the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which funds organisations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, as well as bankrolling legal cases aimed at stripping queer people of their rights.
When asked about his conservative Christian views, Cathy admitted he was “guilty as charged”, adding that he believes in the “biblical definition of the family unit”.
Independent food-sector analyst, Peter Backman, told the Financial Times (FT) that the UK is likely to be less open to engaging with the brand due to its historical evangelical Christian stance.
“Successful restaurants, being very personal businesses, try to align their culture as much as possible with that of the customers they serve,” he said, adding that, when so few Britons identify as Christian, this would be “a challenge”, given Chick-fil-A’s “very strong, religious ethos”.
According to polling data from YouGov, 39 per cent of Britons do not believe in any sort of God or spiritual power compared with 28 per cent who do. Forty-six per cent of Britons do not believe the UK is a Christian country, while 34 per cent believe it is.
Additionally, as of June 2023, 77 per cent of Britons think that same-sex relationships are just as valid as heterosexual relationships.
A source close to the company told the FT that the chain’s religious policies, including closure on Sundays for religious reasons, would apply in the UK.
The company is hoping to move past the incident in 2019 and work to “positively influence the places we call home”, said Joanna Symonds, Chick-fil-A’s head of UK operations.
“This will be the same for our stores in the UK,” she added.
The Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), an association of human resource professionals have published new guidance on how businesses can promote trans and non-binary inclusion in the workplace.
The guide provides professionals, employers, and people managers with the information needed to take an informed and proactive approach to supporting transgender and non-binary people at work, as part of a broader diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policy. It also provides insights from people with lived experience to help employers understand the issues and challenges facing these individuals.
Data from the CIPD shows that 55 per cent of trans employees have experienced harassment and discrimination while at work. Additionally, 18 per cent of trans employees say that they feel psychologically unsafe.
The guide covers the key areas of the entire lifecycle of an employee – from recruitment through to progression – as well as suggestions to build a more inclusive workplace culture.
Commenting on the new guidelines, Peter Cheese, chief executive at the CIPD said: “It’s the responsibility of every employer to recognise the challenges faced by all marginalised groups, including transgender and non-binary people, and take every measure to provide safe and inclusive environments where everyone can thrive.”
An acknowledgement of gender-critical beliefs
The guide highlights that employers in England, Scotland, and Wales have a legal responsibility to create a safe working environment for all employees, regardless of their protected characteristics. The Equality Act 2010 protects all employees from discrimination and harassment on the basis of their protected characteristics, which include age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, gender, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
However, the guide does mention that under the same act, gender-critical views may be protected as “holding these views is not in itself unlawful discrimination.” The guide does note though, that holding those views doesn’t give anyone the right to “manifest” any of those views in a discriminatory way at work.
For example, intentional deadnaming is considered unlawful, as is refusing to use a colleague’s correct name or pronouns or revealing personal information.
The guide advises business leaders to be very clear on the boundaries between “acceptable differences of beliefs and unacceptable manifestations of behaviour in the workplace.”
The guide suggests that individual employers have a clear definition of what could be considered transphobic to clarify the standards for behaviour.
Use the lived experience to shape policy
Elsewhere in the guide, the CIPD urges businesses to consult outside experts and employees with lived experience when shaping new DE&I policies. By actively listening, business leaders can “develop and intersectional perspective” and “identify any particular aspects which may not be clearly understood and/or fully accepted by others who hold alternative views.”
The guide also suggests how HR teams and business leaders can support employees who are transitioning. They highlight long waiting times for gender-affirming care through the NHS and the “bullying, harassment and hostility, which is most likely to occur at the point of transition but can happen at any time.”
The CIPD advises creating a transitioning-at-work policy to support both line managers and colleagues. They say the policy should go beyond the possible medical needs and also consider the lived experience, best practices for support and data protection for employees going through a legal name change.
The CIPD’s guidelines come as many household brands in the UK are announcing new policies that offer specific support to trans and non-binary employees. Earlier this summer, electronics retailer Currys revealed that they will offer an additional six weeks of paid leaveto cover appointments, surgeries and recovery time.
Compassion and understanding are the key
For Thea Bardot, a non-binary business owner and founder of Lightning Travel, the guidance from the CIPD some one of the strongest they’ve ever seen.
“The methodology is robust, with trans and non-binary people having been consulted, as well as organisations specialising in inclusion and awareness and this is evident in the recommendations made.”
They tell PinkNews: “The guidance puts people first, making it clear that for real change to be made in this space compassion and understanding are key, that conversation should be encouraged and that training is essential.”
Bardot appreciates that the CIPD addresses the polarising issue of gender-critical beliefs and the guide “acknowledges that while some people may hold this view it does not mean that it is lawful for those views to be communicated in a way which is discriminatory.”
“I consider this to be essential reading, especially for those involved in recruitment, HR and people management,” Bardot concludes.
“It provides an invaluable framework enabling companies to begin a crucial conversation which so many are currently avoiding. Tackling this subject head-on will benefit everyone within the organisation, not just those who are gender diverse.”
Katherine Milon was strolling Philadelphia’s picturesque Pine Street when she saw the awning for Giovanni’s Room. Wait, that’s a gay book, Milon thought. This is a gay bookstore!
Soon after, Milon began volunteering at the venerable queer and feminist bookseller — named for James Baldwin’s classic 1956 novel — becoming co-manager a few years later. In the past five years, Milon has witnessed COVID decimate business, the store’s pivot to e-commerce during the pandemic, the return of foot traffic in 2021, and, just this summer, the 50th anniversary of Giovanni’s Room, which is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ bookstore in the nation. A joyous block party in front of the location heralded Giovanni’s half-century, with live readings, performances, and parties marking the occasion.
For the store, a love of literature and the embrace of the local queer community has staved off a fate that’s befallen similar spaces across the country — only about 50 LGBTQ+ bookstores remain. But the people behind Giovanni’s Room, from the earliest owners to current management, also made decisions that ensured the store’s survival. The store actually closed its doors in 2014 when it could no longer turn a profit. That’s when Philly AIDS Thrift, a local 501c3 that offers donations, proceeds, and microloans to communities affected by HIV, offered to partner up.
“What they proposed at the time was to create an integrated business model where we still order and sell new books, but we also have thrifted goods available in the store and that helps cut back on overhead,” Milon says. “We have a room with all the new books but we have people coming in to buy 29 cent cassette tapes or looking at our thrifted clothing, so there’s a real community feel.”
That type of creative thinking has carried through from Giovanni’s earliest days when it was opened in 1973 by three members of the Gay Activists Alliance, Bernie Boyle, Dan Scherbo, and Tom Wilson Weinberg, who were enamored with the Oscar Wilde bookstore in New York City (which closed in 2009). But running a queer business in the early ’70s was extremely challenging.
“This was during the time when if you’re opening a gay bar or club it was clandestine,” Milon says. “You had to go down alleyways or know someone who could get you in. So this was a gay business where the windows were open and they had the stock in the windows. They let you know who they were and what they were doing.”
The owners had to do battle with censorship and a society that labeled anything about gay life “pornographic.” (How little has changed.)
“We actually got in trouble with the first couple rounds of landlords because they would see the kinds of books sold and suddenly the rent would go up 3,000 percent,” Milon says.
Boyle, Scherbo, and Weinberg would soon sell the business to Pat Hill, a local lesbian activist. Hill encountered her own troubles keeping the business afloat, going on welfare at one point.
There were more ownership changes through the years, but Milon describes the 1990s as Giovanni’s glory days, when gay authors like Leslie Feinberg and Michael Cunningham were churning out hits, and the internet hadn’t yet widely affected consumer culture. Following the hybrid thrift store/bookstore model, things looked up, partly thanks to a team of volunteers who helped staff the store for next to nothing. Then, came COVID. After the lockdowns lifted, “if we had five customers in the store [total], it was a good day.”
Thankfully, foot traffic returned in 2021, improved even more last year, and “2023 has been off the charts,” Milon says. It helps that Giovanni’s Room is more than a bookstore; it remains a locus of queer life in Philadelphia, with in-person readings, an in-person book club, and various other events that keep people coming back and spending money. Queer author bell hooks remains a perennial favorite, and, of course, Baldwin. Contemporary writers like Brandon Taylor, Torrey Peters, Julia Serrano, and Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper books are also big sellers. Milon uses Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues book as an example of the community’s embrace of her store; while the 1993 novel is available for free on Feinberg’s website, people still line up to buy the printed version from Giovanni’s Room.
“This is definitely a store the community has kept alive through sheer love and dedication,” Milon says. “When they moved into the latest building, volunteers built our main staircase, cut the shop windows, cut the door. We are literally the product of the community coming together year after year, decade after decade, to keep us alive.”
The new owner of two historically pro-LGBTQ+ bars has come under fire for making a number of donations to the Republican Party, totalling nearly $10,000.
A former employee of The Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub, two LGBTQ-friendly establishments in Columbus, Ohio, called out new owner Michael Purdum for contributing thousands of dollars to Republican Party officials.
Nicholas Elkovitch detailed the accusations in a Facebook message on 25 August, following his dismissal after nearly nine years of working in various roles at both establishments, including as restaurant manager, promotions director and entertainment booker.
He said that several other senior members had also been dismissed following Purdum’s purchase of the businesses.
In 2022, Purdum, who owns the Old Bag of Nails restaurant group, purchased Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub.
Alongside allegations that the new owners would turn the pro-LGBTQ+ businesses into “Republican-owned” spaces, the former employee also shared a number of screenshots that detail Purdum’s donations to local and national GOP groups.
Among the donations are a set of payments to Republican Ohio attorney general Dave Yost from 2018 to 2021 totally at least $7,000, as well as $500 to the Republican National Committee in 2012, and $500 to former US speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, in 2011.
Gingrich has made a number of anti-LGBTQ+ remarks in the past, including a tirade in 2021 in which he claimed president Joe Biden was “attacking” anti-LGBTQ+ pundits by waving Pride flags at embassies.
“They will never be the pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-Black spaces they used to be because it might negatively impact the view of their fish-fry pubs in the suburbs,” Elkovitch wrote.
“What was once a PROUD gay-owned space, is now a Republican-owned space that must ask permission to defend its own community.”
In a statement provided to the Columbus Dispatch, Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub executive manager, Joey Steward, refuted the allegations made against Purdum and the newly acquired businesses.
“The goal since the acquisition of the two venues has been to maintain the business operations and enhance the culture of being a safe and welcoming space for the LGBTQIA+ staff and community.
“One way we have executed this goal is by maintaining staff continuity as evidenced by the leadership team expansion in adherence with our philosophy of promoting existing staff members from within these two venues.”
Responding to the backlash following Elkovitch’s post, the Union Cafe shared a statement on Instagram saying that it wished to “set the record straight”.
“Michael Purdum has made occasional contributions to Republican candidates over the years, all of which were done prior to the purchase and involvement with these two venues,” the statement read.
“Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub provides donations to LGBTQIA+ organisations, entertainers, and individuals throughout the year.
“Michael Purdum is, and will continue to be, a dedicated ally to our community and is committed to maintaining these venues as safe spaces.”
An LGBTQ+ owned cosmetics brand has cut ties with Alice Cooper in the wake of wildly anti-trans remarks the rock star made in a recent interview.
In a statement posted to its official Instagram page on Friday, Vampyre Cosmetics announced that it has canceled a collaboration with the 75-year-old singer, known for his theatrical stage persona and goth makeup.
“In light of recent statements by Alice Cooper we will no longer be doing a makeup collaboration,” the brand’s post reads. “We stand with all members of the LGBTQIA+ community and believe everyone should have access to healthcare. All pre-order sales will be refunded.”
On its website, Vampyre Cosmetics describes itself as “proudly women owned, disabled owned and LGBT+ owned,” and in their Instagram bio they describe their products as “for all races, ages and genders.”
According to Billboard, the brand launched its presale for the collaboration on August 14, with Cooper announcing the collection on his official website a few days later. The products have now been removed from Vampyre Cosmetics’ website.
Last week, Cooper made headlines for a going on a vile anti-trans rant in an interview with Stereogum. The “School’s Out” singer was asked to weigh in on recent anti-trans statements made on social media by fellow veteran shock rockers Paul Stanley of Kiss and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, both of whom have since attempted to walk back their comments.
Cooper said he agreed with Snider and Stanley’s initial comments, suggesting that kids coming out as transgender or nonbinary at a young age is “a fad.” The “social contagion” narrative that more young people are coming out as trans due to peer pressure and exposure to trans-affirming messages on social media continues to be propagated by Republican politicians and anti-trans activists, despite being widely discredited by experts.
Cooper went on to reference a litany of right-wing anti-trans misinformation and conspiracy theories, including the thoroughly debunked hoax that schools are installing litter boxes for students who identify as cats, and the idea that trans women pose a threat to cisgender women in public bathrooms.
As of Monday, Cooper, who is currently promoting a new album, has not responded to the backlash to his remarks.
Chick-fil-A is one of the top 10 largest fast-food chains in the U.S. with a widely loved offering of chicken sandwiches and an estimated 2022 revenue of $6.4 billion, according to Zippia.com. However, the company has also had a long history of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ causes.
Here’s an overview of its queerphobic actions and how social pressure has caused the company to shift its attention away from anti-LGBTQ+ efforts in recent years.
A history of Chick-fil-A’s controversial actions
Since 2003, the WinShape Foundation, a charity co-founded by Chick-fil-A’s now-deceased founder S. Truett Cathy and his wife Jeanette Cathy, has donated over $1 million to groups that actively oppose same-sex marriage, including Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum; the anti-LGBTQ Christian group Focus on the Family; the SLPC-certified hate group Family Research Council; the now-defunct ex-gay therapy group Exodus International; the exclusively for-heterosexuals-only Marriage & Family Legacy Fund; and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a religious groups whose “sexual purity policy” prohibits any homosexual acts.
In 2009, Chick Fil-a doubled that amount to $2 million. In January 2011, Chick-fil-A co-sponsored a marriage conference with the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a group that opposes expanded LGBTQ+ civil rights. In 2012, Chick-fil-A executives promised to stop supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations.
However, The Chick-fil-A Foundation’s IRS filings from 2015 revealed that the foundation donated $1 million to the FCA; $200,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Georgia-based residential home for troubled youth which said that child abuse causes homosexuality; and $130,000 to the Salvation Army, a religious international charity that has long opposed same-sex marriage and anti-LGBTQ housing discrimination protectionswhile supporting religious exemptions from LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws. In 2017, Chick-fil-A’s donations to these groups equaled nearly $2 million.
Dan Cathy’s statements against same-sex marriage
YouTube screenshotDan Cathy
In 2012, Chick fil-A’s then-president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy made repeated comments against same-sex marriage. On June 16, 2012, Cathy said on The Ken Coleman Show that the United States was “inviting God’s judgment” upon it by redefining marriage to include same-sex spouses. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,” Cathy said.
In a July 2, 2012 interview with Biblical Recorder, Dan Cathy said he was “guilty as charged”when asked about Chick-fil-A’s “support of the traditional family.” In June 2013, the day the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Cathy tweeted (and quickly deleted), “Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies.”
By 2014, Cathy said it was a “mistake” to involve his company in the public debate against same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, even into 2021, Cathy — who still serves as the company’s chairman — continued using his money to fund the National Christian Charitable Foundation and its “dark money operations” supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
Chick-fil-A’s corporate policies and employee treatment
Shutterstock
Chick-fil-A’s current statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) says that the company doesn’t allow employment discrimination or harassment based on “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression,” or other personal characteristics, like religion.
Despite this, in 2002, a Muslim employee of a Houston location sued the chain, alleging that he had been fired for refusing to pray to Jesus with other employees — the company settled the suit out of court. In 2022, a transgender female Chick-fil-A employee sued the restaurant chain after her co-worker allegedly began making violent, racist, and queerphobic threats.
LGBTQ+ Chick-fil-A employees have variously spoken out for and against the company. One anonymous gay worker discouraged boycotts, noting that they would mostly harm the chain’s LGBTQ+ employees, but also accused the restaurant’s anti-gay and Christian supporters of being self-righteous, arrogant, and blind to LGBTQ+ suffering.
Several gay employees said some customers offered homophobic words of support for the business while other people yelled at employees for supporting a homophobic company. Others said that their Chick-fil-A co-workers and supervisors didn’t tolerate homophobic behavior from colleagues.
Chick-fil-A’s philanthropy shifts show the power of consumer advocacy
Twitter/Greg AbbottTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) surrounded by Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A’s supporters have encouraged the company to embrace its anti-gay social stances, while its critics have urged the company to turn away from its anti-LGBTQ+ practices.
In 2012, gay activists and allies staged a national boycott of the chain after one location donated food to a seminar hosted by the anti-gay Pennsylvania Family Institute. To combat the boycotts, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) declared August 1, 2012 as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.
In support of the day, Huckabee wrote, “Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the godly values we espouse…. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same-sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.”
The chain said the day’s resulting sales helped set a record for profits.
On August 3, 2012, however, gay rights activists around the nation held kiss-in protests in opposition to the restaurant’s anti-LGBTQ+ donations and Dan Cathy’s views against same-sex marriage. Some of the protests occurred inside and outside of the restaurants. Other LGBTQ+ allies encouraged people to donate money that they would’ve spent at the restaurant to queer organizations like GLAAD.
Chick-fil-A announced in 2017 that that would be the last year in which it would donate to the Paul Anderson Youth Home. In a November 18, 2019 interview, Chick-fil-A president Tim Tassopoulos said the company would no longer donate to the FCA and The Salvation Army. Tassopoulos also said Chick-fil-A would continue to donate to “faith-based [and] non-faith-based” groups.
In response to Tassopoulos’s announcement, the Christian consumer organization 2nd Vote denounced and boycotted Chick-fil-A for pledging not to donate to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. The American Family Association also circulated a petition which stated, “It looks like you (Chick-fil-A) are abandoning Christian values and agreeing with homosexual activists who say believing the Bible makes you a hater. Please clarify that you still hold to biblical teachings regarding human sexuality, marriage, and family, and reinstate these Christian ministries.”
In a statement released in 2020, the Chick-fil-A Foundation announced that it would donate $9 million equally to promote youth education through Junior Achievement USA, combat youth homelessness via the LGBTQ+-inclusive charity Covenant House International, and fight hunger by giving to local food banks in cities where it opened new locations.
The anti-LGBTQ+ Family Research Council (FRC) criticized Chick-fil-A for publicly withdrawing its support from the FCA and Salvation Army and announcing its support for Covenant House International, something the FRC called “an endorsement of an LGBT agenda.”
Assessing Chick-fil-A’s progress & its potential for change
ShutterstockFast food chain Chick-fil-A is owned by religious conservatives and closed on Sundays.
While Chick-fil-A’s donation strategy has changed for the time being, it still carries an image of being anti-gay. This image has led city airports and college campuses to protest the openings of new Chick-fil-A restaurants. In response, conservative politicians have continued to defend the company’s Christian beliefs.
Apart from rehabbing its public image, the company could do more to welcome its own LGBTQ+ employees.
In 2019, the LGBTQ+ rights organization the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the queer media watchdog group GLAAD both said that they wanted Chick-fil-A to implement fair hiring practices, transparency about donations, and proof that Chick-fil-A has actually stopped donating to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations.
The company could certainly do more to become more LGBTQ+-inclusive. The company has never participated in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index measuring the company’s own queer-inclusive workplace policies. The company also has no internal employee resource groups for addressing the needs of LGBTQ+-identified team members. It’s unclear if the company offers LGBTQ+-inclusive anti-discrimination training or equal employee benefits, like parental leave and domestic partner benefits, regardless of workers’ sexual orientations or gender identities.
Other businesses have contrasted themselves with Chick-fil-A to highlight their own inclusive business practices and the importance of informed consumption and supporting LGBTQ+-friendly businesses.
In June 2021, for instance, Burger King launched the Ch’King sandwich, which closely resembled Chick-fil-A’s trademark chicken sandwich. In a June 3, 2021 tweet, Burger King wrote, “The #ChKing says LGBTQ+ rights!” It also announced that it would donate 40₵ to the HRC for every Ch’King sandwich sold (with a maximum donation of $250,000).
In September 2022, Alexandre’s Bar in the Dallas gayborhood of Oak Lawn announced the sale of its own “Chick-fil-gAy” sandwich that was only available on Sundays (the day on which all Chick-fil-A locations are closed).
Recent polling shows that 70% of non-LGBTQ+ Americans believe that companies should publicly support the queer community through inclusive policies, advertising, and sponsorships — this belief held especially true for younger consumers. In short, Chick-fil-A could invest in its future by continuing to distance itself from its past anti-gay actions.
Diversity is delicious, homophobia is not
Chick-fil-A has given to groups that oppose LGBTQ+ identities and civil rights. Its current chairman, Dan Cathy, has also made several statements against same-sex marriage. This has tarnished the company’s image, even as it has gradually distanced itself from these positions.
While the company remains very successful, its recent changes in donation and anti-discrimination policies show the impact that consumers have made by advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and supporting inclusive business practices. LGBTQ+ people and allies support and remain loyal to companies that support their queer employees and the larger queer community. It pays to research and patronize such supportive businesses so we can all put our money where our mouths are.
