After opponents of gay marriage flocked to Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country on Wednesday to give the franchise “record-setting” sales, the eyes of the nation—or at least the news media—was back on Chick-fil-A on Friday to see if a “kiss-in” protest by same sex couples would be as overwhelming.
Based on the report from around the country, the “kiss-in” was much more subdued than Wednesday’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, which was the show of support created on Facebook by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is also a Baptist minister.
While restaurants reported lines snaked around corners and cars queued up for hours with people waiting to buy their fried chicken sandwich to show support for Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, on Friday many restaurants reported that things were pretty close to normal.
The idea for the kiss-in came from Dallas activist Carly McGehee, who said more than 15,000 people reported on Facebook that they would join the protest. But it wasn’t clear yesterday how many in fact did show up.
Carly McGehee, a Dallas political activist who came up with the idea of the kiss-in, said more than 15,000 people said they would join the protest since she posted an announcement on her Facebook page on July 19.
Chick-fil-A “is continuously supporting hate and bigotry and intolerance,” said McGehee, 24.
One franchise that did see some action was the one in Decatur, Georgia, just outside Atlanta, where more than 20 protesters gathered at one of the fast-food restaurants in Decatur, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, where Mark Toomajian kissed his partner, Jim Fortier, 58, for the cameras.
“It’s a human rights issue, it’s not a First Amendment issue,” said Mark Toomajian, 41, who kissed his partner Jim Fortier, 58.
The Decatur protest was organized by Marci Alt, 48, of Atlanta, who started an online petition asking Cathy to come to her home for dinner with her partner of 12 years and their two children. Alt said she has not received a reply from Cathy.
In downtown Washington, D.C., about 25 gay rights protesters formed a picket line in front of a Chick-fil-A food truck parked on a crowded street corner and they told customers that the fast food chain donates millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups and causes.
