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Chipotle withdraws Boy Scout sponsorship because of group's ban on gays

March 20, 2013

Because of the Boy Scouts of America's long-standing ban on gays, Chipotle Mexican Grill has pulled its sponsorship of Utah's Scout-O-Rama, according to the Huffington Post.

The chain, which often sponsors community events, had signed on to give $4,200 worth of coupons to the Utah Boy Scouts' annual event May 4 in a Salt Lake City suburb, but Chipotle's anti-discrimination policy states that the company shouldn't support organizations that exclude based on sexual orientation. When company leaders found out about the coupons, they decided against supporting the event, said Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold.

"It was never our intention for this to be this some kind of an endorsement of broader Boy Scout policies," Arnold said in the story. "Ultimately, we decided that the right thing to do was to remain consistent with our policy and terminate the sponsorship."

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