_Phil Konstantin_

In a post published today via Forbes, former Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship vocalist Grace Slick detailed her recent decision to license a Starship tune for a Chik-fil-A ad, despite her opinions on some of the company’s practices, including CEO Dan T. Cathy’s anti-LGBT statements and the company’s donations to organizations that share those views.

“My first thought when ‘Check’-fil-A came to me was, ‘F**k no!’” Slick writes. The singer went on to explain that, instead of refusing the request, she would accept and turn the situation around, donating all of the profits she receives from the ad, which uses Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” to pro-LGBT organization Lambda Legal, which Slick calls “the largest national legal organization working to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people, and everyone living with HIV.”

“instead of them replacing my song with someone else’s and losing this opportunity to strike back at anti-LGBTQ forces, I decided to spend the cash in direct opposition to “Check”-fil-A’s causes – and to make a public example of them, too,” Slick writes. “We’re going to take some of their money, and pay it back.”

Slick goes on to urge artists to consider who they’re licensing their music to and that she wanted to “set an example” for others. “I wanted to tell them, ‘Your art will survive and thrive. Do not let it be used by companies who support intolerance. Don’t be afraid to take a stand. You’re an artist; that’s what we do.’

“See, I come from a time when artists didn’t just sell their soul to the highest bidder, when musicians took a stand, when the message of songs was ‘feed your head,’ not ‘feed your wallet.’ We need that kind of artistic integrity today, more than ever.”

Read the full post here.