Recently, my wife and I made a surprising decision: we hired JCPenney to help supply us with our children's wardrobes (along with the cherished neighborhood thrift store just down the street).

Now, we don't typically do our shopping at name-brand outlets. However, it was the company's beautiful and unequivocal rejection of anti-gay hatred and bigotry which inspired us to make the move. Already, we have purchased several outfits for our young girls, which they adore (partly because they love summer dresses, and partly because they love why we chose JCPenney).

And while we have yet to buy any Oreo cookies after the brand's visual support of Pride Day -- which Kraft called "a fun reflection of our values" after massive pushback from anti-gay organizations -- we have hired Kraft to provide us with our gum: Trident.

Hiring is fun. It's always the easy part in this monetary, consumer-driven ecosystem within which we willingly (and sometimes unwittingly) participate.

Firing, on the other hand, is a less pleasant experience. Which is why it pains me to say that, unfortunately, my wife and I have come to a decision: we must fire Chick-Fil-A.

Now, truth-be-told, we do not normally consume fast food. Though, when on the road -- and we travel often to visit our disparate families -- we have hired Chick-Fil-A as one of a select few places at which we're willing to stop for meals. (Oh how my youngest pines for their waffle fries.)

No more, for after learning about the roughly 2 million dollars Chick-Fil-A donated to anti-gay groups in 2010 alone -- not to mention the millions more over time -- we've decided that we are firing Chick-Fil-A. For good.

Equality Matters reports:



The WinShape Foundation is Chick-fil-A's charitable arm, created by Chick-fil-A founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy in 1984. WinShape has received a substantial amount of funding from Chick-fil-A: in 2010 alone, WinShape received $8,067,161 from Chick-fil-A Inc. [WinShape 2010, Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed 6/27/12] In 2010, WinShape donated $1,974,380 to a number of anti-gay groups: Marriage & Family Foundation: $1,188,380

Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000

National Christian Foundation: $247,500

New Mexico Christian Foundation: $54,000

Exodus International: $1,000

Family Research Council: $1,000

Georgia Family Council: $2,500

I encourage you to view the sordid details at Equality Matters to see not only how vile these organizations are, but how closely Chick-Fil-A's charitable arm is linked to a number of them.

Bottom line: Chick-Fil-A is actively supporting groups which, themselves, are actively waging war against marriage equality and the LGBT community.

So we've fired them.

Just one family.

Out of millions.

Which could do the same.

Follow me on Twitter @David_EHG

