Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) signed the “Save Chick-fil-A” bill into law on Tuesday, which would bar a state government agency from punishing a company for supporting or donating to religious organizations, including anti-LGBTQ groups.
The bill was named after Chick-fil-A, a fried chicken chain that came under fire for donating over a million dollars to anti-LGBT groups in 2017 despite promising to stop making such donations in 2012.
Republican lawmakers created the bill after the San Antonio City Council blocked Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in San Antonio International Airport on the basis of the chain’s donations to groups like Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which bans “homosexual acts.”
Members of the Texas legislature’s first-ever LGBTQ Caucus slammed the bill, saying it would permit discrimination.
“It’s been cloaked in religious freedom, but the genesis, the nexus of this bill, is in hatred,” state Rep. Celia Israel (D) told the Texas Tribune.
