Late Friday after, a number of gay-activists gathered in front of as many as 1,600 Chik-fil-A store locations and shared a kiss to celebrate "Same-Sex Kiss Day," to directly counter comments made by the fast food chain's CEO who said in an earlier interview that he only supported "the biblical definition of the family unit," according to the New York Times.
At many of the locations, protestors were given a free treat. In a Wichita, Kansas locations activists were all given chicken sandwiches, in a Georgia location they were given lemonade.
Rollin Longino, held up a sign that said, "I had two dads and I turned out alright!"
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.
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 directly counters 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, earlier this week 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.
