Some time Friday, as many as 15,000 or more are expected to show up at the fast-food chain Chick fil-A's locations across the country. This time it will be gay-marriage activists who will gather there to celebrate "Same-Sex Kiss Day," the same-sex marriage supporters have planned to protest to directly counter Chick fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's comments on supporting "the biblical definition of the family unit," according to the New York Times.
The "Same-Sex Kiss Day" was created on the social media site Facebook by political activist 24-year-old Carly McGehee, who told Reuters that the fast food chain restaurant "is continuously supporting hate and bigotry and intolerance...He (Cathy) has the right to do that, but he has to be prepared for the backlash, for the repercussions. This is America." The event on Facebook is called "Let's show Chick-fil-A thanks for their support of Love, Equality, and the Real Definition of Marriage!" and has as many as 15,000 people signed up.
The group of protestors plans to share a kiss in front of Chick fil-A locations, record it and post it to various social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.
On Wednesday, Supporters of the traditional marriage gathered at store locations to celebrate "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," The Chik-fil-A commotion began last week, when the restaurant's CEO Dan Cathy that he supports the traditional form of marriage between a man and woman. No sooner did he make the statement that it turned into a controversy on same-sex marriage no doubt, but also on one's First-Amendment right to freedom of speech.
The event is a direct counter to Wednesday's "Chik-fil-A Appreciation Day," which was created by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on a Facebook page to rally supporters. Nearly 600,000 people signed up.
But while Huckabee 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 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 including 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, so of course, one must expect rallying from the opposite side of the discourse which is what we're witnessing in this particular incident.
