The fast-food chain, Chik-fil-A has been in the headlines recently and it's not for the food, after Chik fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy said in an interview that he supports the traditional form of marriage between a man and woman and was "guilty as charged" for not supporting gay-marriage. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee created a Facebook event to rally supporters on Wednesday calling the event "Chik Fil-A Appreciation Day." Nearly 600,000 people signed up.
But while Huckabee's intention was to "affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values," many of the supporters who showed up at the City Crystal Virginia location and many others across the country were not there to support Cathy's stance on same-sex marriage, but rather his right to have an opinion and voice it, without being reprimanded.
"I think it comes down to a First Amendment issue. I mean, I do believe in the traditional values of marriage between a man and a woman," Stephen Lenahan told Fox News.
Of course there were also plenty of people who were there to show their support for the cause of preserving the traditional form of marriage, these supporters included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
But plenty of others were just shocked at the entire incident, one passer-by Beth Matt told ABC News, "it's not something I want to be a part of...Don't get me wrong I like the food...But this is just outrageous...I guess were getting toward an election season and things are just going to get more and more polarized so sure let Chick-fil-A be another martyr," according to abcnews.com
Matt has a point, this Monday the Democratic Party announced that it was adding the subject of same-sex marriage to the party platform in the upcoming elections, so of course, it is only fair to expect rallying from the opposite side of the discourse which is what we're witnessing in this particular incident.
