Just days after its chief operating officer said fast food chain Chick-fil-A is ‘guilty as charged’ when it comes to its opposition to gay marriage, the company is doing something of an about face.

On its Facebook page Thursday (19 July), the company vowed to stay out of the political fray from now on.

‘Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.’

It also stated: ‘The Chick-fil-A culture and tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.’

COO Dan Cathy said in an interview with the Baptist Press this week that the company is opposed to gay marriage. It had donated nearly $2 million to anti-gay groups in 2010 through its charitable arm called WinShape. It also gave more than $2 million to anti-gay groups between 2003 and 2009.

‘We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles,’ Cathy said in the newspaper interview.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said Thursday that Chick-fil-A ‘has finally come clean’ after years of saying it did not have an anti-gay agenda.

‘While they may have been in neutral, kicking this fight into overdrive now allows fair-minded consumers to make up their own minds whether they want to support an openly discriminatory company,’ Griffin said in a statement. ‘As the country moves toward inclusion, Chick-fil-A has staked out a decidedly stuck-in-the-past mentality.’

Ed Helms, one of the stars of The Hangover movies and NBC’s The Office, has vowed to boycott the chain.

‘Chick-Fil-A doesn’t like gay people? So lame. Hate to think what they do to the gay chickens! Lost a loyal fan,’ he tweeted this week.