How Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby And Betsy DeVos Are Trying To Roll Back LGBTQ Rights

The LGBTQ Community may be in a celebratory mood this June as they mark the first Pride Month under President Joe Biden, but an attempt to roll back the freedoms and rights that have already been granted, as well as stall new protections, is underway with some formidable opponents lining up to try and stall the Equality Act.

According to an explosive report from The Daily Beast, a “dark money” operation by the National Christian Charitable Foundation (NCF), which is on the frontlines of the fight against the Equality Act, is at work to try and stall the Equality Act once again in Congress and have it killed by the Senate Filibuster. The group, which is a donor-advised fund, is operated in a way where those who donate to it can recommend where the money is allocated to. An extensive network of supporting organizations that are believed to be fronts for outside donors who want a more determinate approach for their funds is also involved, which is considered dark money.

Among the most high-profile donors at the NCF are names that have long been tied to anti-LGBTQ rights. They include former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her family foundation, Anschutz oil, Foster Friess, the owners of Hobby Lobby and Dan Cathy, the owner of Chick-fil-A, which has promised in the past to stop donating to anti-LGBTQ causes.

The news that Chik-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby were tied to the NCF angered many, as both companies have been caught in controversies due to their founders' Christian beliefs before, amid other wrong-doing.

Some of the other organizations that have ties to the NCF are the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal interest group that has represented businesses involved in anti-LGBTQ lawsuits, and The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Terry Parker, the NCF’s co-founder, has served in leadership roles for several other foundations, such as “The Jesus Fund Foundation,” and the “Christian Heritage Foundation of Steamboat Springs,” which are more extreme when it comes to their approach of handling those in the community.

“You’re actually funding organizations that in Europe are advocating for the forced sterilization of transgender people,” an analyst told Daily Beast. “They’re doing hardcore extreme stuff, but they make it seem like it’s a bunch of soup kitchens.”

The groups that have received some of the NCF’s funds have been among the biggest players to defeat the Equality Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate against, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in most areas, a protection that has not been granted to the groups. Among the ways the groups have been implementing their campaign has been through a high volume of phone calls to the offices of Senators who have been on the fence about the Act, including Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has reportedly received calls to vote against the bill at a much higher volume than ones in support.

If Senators like Manchin vote against, it is a win for opponents of the Equality Act, because, with the Senate Filibuster, Democrats already need ten Republicans to join them in order to pass the legislation and have Biden sign it into law. If Manchin or other Moderate Democrats are convinced to vote no, then the number needed becomes larger, making it far less likely that the Act will succeed.

None of the companies whose ties to the NCF were exposed have commented on the report.