"Kiss-in" protests at Chick-Fil-A
Gay rights activists were kissing at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country Friday, just days after the company set a sales record when customers flocked to the restaurants to show support for the fast-food chain president's opposition to same-sex marriage.
The flap began last month when Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy told a religious publication that the company backed "the Biblical definition of a family," and later said: "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'"
The statement infuriated same-sex marriage supporters, who planned the so-called "kiss-in" protests. "We just feel like Dan Cathy is using his position to spread an intolerant message," Dobbs said.
To counter Friday's planned demonstrations, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and Fox News talk show host, declared Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," calling on opponents of same-sex marriage to patronize a Chick-Fil-A. The call drew long lines and record sales.
Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said in a statement, "Without question, Dan Cathy has every right to voice his opinions and beliefs. But he should meet and get to know the people that he's speaking out against - the people who are harmed by his company's multi-million dollar donations to anti-gay hate groups working to hurt everyday LGBT Americans and break apart loving families."
Julie Romano, an organizer at the Decatur, Ga., store, opposes Cathy's stance. "As my sign said, Jesus said nothing about homosexuality," said Romano. "And Christianity is about loving people."
According to Equality Florida, Chick-Fil-A has donated at least $5 million to organizations whose agenda, the group says, is "to dehumanize LGBT people and to pass laws that treat us as second-class citizens." The recipients of Chick-Fil-A donations include Exodus International (which advocates "ex-gay" reparative therapy), and two organizations - the American Family Association and the Family Research Council - that are designated as "hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
