According to a poll taken by USA Today, 55 percent of Americans consider themselves more accepting of the homosexual community, yet large companies and organizations such as Chick-fil-A and Urban Outfitters are all helping to fund anti-gay bills.
Chick-fil-A owner Dan Cathy publicly announced his animosity toward gay marriage in 2012. Following Cathy’s remarks, there were protests and boycotting of the popular fast-food chain, yet sales still went up by 12 percent.
“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” said Cathy according to The Huffington Post. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business and we are married to our first wives. We live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
Urban Outfitters is another company that funds and supports anti-gay entities. In 2008, Richard Hayne, president and co-founder of Urban Outfitters, donated $13,150 to the presidential campaign of former United States Senator Rick Santorum. If elected, Santorum intended on preventing all same-sex marriages. Urban Outfitters also stopped selling shirts that promoted same-sex marriage after only a week of sales.
“I thought [Urban Outfitters] was an amazing store and most of the clothes in my closet were bought from there,” said sophomore Kimia Zargari. “However, once I found out, I was disgusted and could not see myself shopping there as often anymore, knowing I would be indirectly contributing to strengthening anti-gay bills.”
Because the The Defense of Marriage Act was declared unconstitutional in early 2013, companies are no longer able to deny federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples. DOMA previously stated that states are allowed to choose whether or not to recognize same-sex marriages as real marriages, preventing some people from being referred to as spouses under the law. Though DOMA was declared unconstitutional, large corporations are still finding ways to repress the homosexual community.