Gulfport's Golden Dinosaurs gears up for annual ‘Chick-Fil-Nay’ Pride month fundraiser

Each June, Gulfport’s resident vegan eatery Golden Dinosaurs begs the question: “Do you love fried chicken sandwiches and hate homophobes?”

To celebrate Pride month every summer, Golden Dinosaurs offers its Chick-Fil-Nay sandwich all month-long, a plant-based take on a popular dish from a particular chicken chain with Conservative Christian roots.

The sammie features housemade seitan fried “chicken” between two brioche buns with pickles, a riff on Chick-Fil-A sauce that has “notes of honey mustard and a smoky tang,” and the option to add cheese.

At the end of the month, a dollar from every Chick-Fil-Nay sandwich sold is donated to Metro Inclusive Health, a St. Pete-based not-for-profit healthcare organization that offers LGBTQ+-friendly medical services.

Besides obviously valuing an ethically-vegan approach to food, Golden Dinosaurs is one of the many small businesses in Pinellas County that spend Pride month—and the 11 other months of the year—proudly supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Golden Dinosaurs owners Audrey and Brian Dingeman have held their Pride month fundraiser for the past few years, and have been able to give about a thousand bucks to Metro Inclusive Health every summer.

The choice to make a plant-based chicken sandwich the center of its Pride fundraiser was to oppose what many LGBTQ+ activists over the years have considered blatant homophobia from Atlanta-based chicken chain Chick-Fil-A.

While it’s common knowledge that the fast food franchise is a Christian-owed business (as evidenced by its closure on Sundays), the chain first came under scrutiny in the 2010s for being connected to donations to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations and lobbying groups, as well as comments from former CEO and current chairman Dan Cathy, who publicly criticized same-sex marriage in 2012.

Over the past decade or so, Chick-Fil-A has relatively stayed out of the headlines by keeping its “charitable” donations as PR-friendly as possible. Its current president Tim Tassopoulos told bisnow.com in 2019 that the chain would “stop donations to charities with anti-LGBT views” and focus on education, homelessness and hunger instead—although Cathy has donated to the National Christian Charitable Foundation as recently as 2021, according to businessinsider.com.

Nonetheless, it's often small businesses, not massive corporations looking for charity-related tax write-offs, that can often make a difference in their own communities.

Last year, Golden Dinosaurs donated about $700 to Metro, which was a little less than par from previous years. In 2024, Audrey tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that they’re hoping to break last year’s record of sandwiches sold.

While Golden Dinosaurs hosts its month-long sandwich fundraiser, the Dingeman’s other business— sit down vegan restaurant Good Intentions , co-owned by Jenny and Jeff Howe of Nah Dogs and Black Radish’s Mikey Schmidt and Bryon Lippincott—also celebrates Pride month with an inclusive dance party on June 3, queer trivia on June 10 and a parade afterparty on Saturday, June 22.

Dingeman also says that a featured Pride-themed cocktail will be on the Good Intentions menu in June, and a portion of its proceeds will benefit LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Florida.

“As we all know the politics in Florida are completely messed up right now. We're in our nice little bubble here in St. Pete, but it's not the same for queer folks in other small towns throughout the state,” Dingeman tells CL. “And I think you can't just slap a rainbow flag up and be like, that’s it—I think doing some action through fundraising or volunteering is super crucial to help these folks stay safe and keep our community prospering.”

For the latest news on Golden Dinosaurs, its rotating menu and this year’s Chick-Fil-Nay fundraiser, head to @goldendinosaurs_fl on Instagram. [location-1] Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

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