Anti-Gay Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy Bringing UK's Legendary Pinewood Film Studio to the U.S.

Britain's legendary Pinewood studio, where hundreds of well-known films including most of the James Bond films, Harry Potter, Alien, The Hobbit, and Prometheus have been shot, is making a move to the United States, opening its first major facility at a site outside of Atlanta.

Who is funding the venture?

The AP reports:

The Pinewood project is a joint venture with River's Rock LLC, which is an independently managed trust of the Cathy family, according to the studio. The Cathy family is known for establishing the Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant empire based in Atlanta. The chain last year generated both criticism and support when company president Dan Cathy made comments against same-sex marriage. The company later said it would stop funding anti-gay marriage groups.

Pinewood will maintain a 40 percent interest in the venture and will also provide sales and marketing services under the agreement. Plans call for additional construction phases that could add several more soundstages. The project also includes a vocational job skills training program to help build up the state's workforce. Georgia already has an estimated 5,000 union and non-union professionals associated with the film industry along with more than 1,000 production suppliers and support companies.

County officials say 75 companies have been in contact saying they want to locate to the site and provide industry-related services.

Chick-fil-A and Cathy's related foundation, the WinShape foundation, have not stopped funding anti-gay causes, which the AP neglects to mention.

Sarah Palin Shows Her Support for Chick-fil-A Once Again

Sarah Palin was spotted wearing some hate fashion at the Phoenix Suns game, the New York Daily News reports.

It's her most prominent show of support for Chick-fil-A since July 2012, when she posed for photos to show support for the bigoted brand, saying "Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business."

Think Progress recently reported on financial documents that show Chick-fil-A's giving to anti-gay causes nearly doubled in 2011.

Chick-fil-A's Anti-Gay Donations Nearly Doubled in 2011

Dismiss anybody who tells you Chick-fil-A has turned over a new leaf.

Think Progress reports:

Most of the WinShape’s anti-LGBT giving in previous years went to groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation ($1,188,380 in 2010), the Fellowship Of Christian Athletes ($480,000 in 2010), and the National Christian Foundation ($247,500). Additionally, the group made small donations to the “ex-gay” group Exodus International ($1,000) and the hate group Family Research Council ($1,000).

In 2011, the group actually gave even more to anti-LGBT causes. Its contribution to the Marriage & Family Foundation jumped to $2,896,438 and it gave the same amount to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and National Christian Foundation as it had in 2010. In total, the anti-LGBT spending exceeded $3.6 million — almost double the $1.9 million from the year before.

The group gave nothing directly to Exodus International or FRC, but money made its way their through donations from the other groups that wouldn't have been possible without the WinShape donations.

In other words, 'Chikin' is more hateful than ever.

Gay 'Campus Pride' Leader Befriends Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, Says Funding of Anti-LGBT Groups Ceased

Campus Pride executive director Shane Windmeyer writes about his months-long dialogue with Chick-fil-A President and COO Dan Cathy which led to an invitation to hang out with Cathy at the Chick-fil-A bowl, and the suspension of Campus Pride's boycott and protest of the chicken chain.

Windmeyer says Cathy called him out of the blue and began an extensive dialogue of trust-filled exchanges:

Chick-fil-A also provided access to internal documents related to the funding of anti-LGBT groups and asked questions about our concerns related to this funding. An internal document, titled "Who We Are," expressed Chick-fil-A's values, which included their commitment "to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect," including LGBT people. Dan and his family members had personally drafted, refined and approved the document.

Through all this, Dan and I shared respectful, enduring communication and built trust. His demeanor has always been one of kindness and openness. Even when I continued to directly question his public actions and the funding decisions, Dan embraced the opportunity to have dialogue and hear my perspective. He and I were committed to a better understanding of one another. Our mutual hope was to find common ground if possible, and to build respect no matter what. We learned about each other as people with opposing views, not as opposing people.

Windmeyer says Chick-fil-A has kept its promises to stop funding anti-LGBT groups and explains that's why they suspended their boycott back in September:

This past week Chick-fil-A shared with me the 2011 IRS Form 990, filed in November for the WinShape Foundation, along with 2012 financials. The IRS has not released the 990 to the public yet, but the financials affirm Chick-fil-A's values a year prior to the controversy this past July. The nearly $6 million in outside grant funding focuses on youth, education, marriage enrichment and local communities. The funding reflects Chick-fil-A's promised commitment not to engage in "political or social debates," and the most divisive, anti-LGBT groups are no longer listed.

Even as Campus Pride and so many in the community protested Chick-fil-A and its funding of groups like Family Research Council, Eagle Forum and Exodus International, the funding of these groups had already stopped. Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A could have noted this publicly earlier. Instead, they chose to be patient, to engage in private dialogue, to reach understanding,and to share proof with me when it was official. There was no "caving"; there were no "concessions." There was, in my view, conscience.

Read Windmeyer's full piece here.

What do you think? Should LGBT folks stop their protests against Chick-fil-A?

News: Gay Pride Suppression, Hillary Clinton, Russia, JJ Abrams

A gay man in Boynton Beach, Florida, is being accused of trying to start abstract "trouble" after his neighborhood association nixed his pride flag. The man, Dave Armstrong, says his neighbors are just homophobic. "I said, 'Listen, everybody else has an American flag on the front of their property, so why can't I have my pride flag right out here?'"

An Atlanta man is suing Georgia after state rejects his three gay-themed vanity license plates, "4GayLib," "GayPwr" and "GayGuy:" "All three were denied because they were already on a list of more than 10,000 banned tags, the state's 'bad tag list'. 'There are some limits that are proper but none of this makes any sense,' [Attorney Cynthia] Counts said. 'It's completely contrary to any first amendment principals.'"

The Connecticut Senate approved the state's first openly gay Supreme Court justice.

MSNBC panels says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was "at her very best" during yesterday's Benghazi hearings.

New rules from the Kremlin demand military officers inspect recruits' bodies, including their genitals, for tattoos that may indicate gang or gay affiliation. "The reason for getting tattoos could indicate a low cultural or educational level," the directive reads. "If an influence by external factors is determined, for example, persuasion or direct coercion, this indicates the malleability of the young man, his disposition to submit to another's will."

Scotland Yard says it has arrested three people suspected of being involved in a "Muslim street patrol" that recently assaulted a gay man in London.

More about corporations turning on the Boy Scouts for the Scouts' tenacious homophobia, including a chart on who's giving how much to the organization. (Click on image to expand.)

David Hall, the former Air Force sergeant booted under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, discusses his experience as a "citizen co-chair" during President Obama's second inauguration. "I think he tried to put us all at ease and talk to us as normal people," he said of the commander-in-chief's demeanor.

Rather than joining the momentum that will most likely usher in marriage equality in Rhode Island, and simultaneously going against his party peer, Gov. Lincoln Chafee, Democratic State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III plans on introducing a bill that will put same-sex unions to a popular vote, rather than allowing lawmakers to decide.

Despite outcry from LGBT students, Chick-fil-A will stay put at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school, however, agreed to give them $1,500 to see if they can start an anti-bullying and general awareness campaign on such a small budget.

Stephen Dorff found some relief in the Roosevelt Hotel's bushes.

Here are the president's remarks on the Pentagon lifting the ban on women in combat: "Today, by moving to open more military positions—including ground combat units—to women, our armed forces have taken another historic step toward harnessing the talents and skills of all our citizens..."

Polish lawmakers begin debating civil unions.

Why didn't Sheryl Crow tell the world that former lover Lance Armstrong was doping?

David Beckham in a "fashionable dressing gown."

Is JJ Abrams going to direct the next Star Wars flick?

"Does lightning cause migraines?"

Chick-fil-A Gives Two Men Chicken Sandwiches in Exchange for Their Homosexuality: VIDEO

The coupon's fake, of course, but as for the redemption...

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via jmg)