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Chick-fil-A Fans Show Support For Chain and Chicken on "Appreciation Day"
Photo by DerekThomasLA via Flickr
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Some people just love their chicken sandwiches...and many of them are showing up at their nearest Chick-fil-A today at the behest of former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who has dubbed August 1 "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."
Says Huckabee in a Facebook event post:
No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let's affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we're considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant. This effort is not being launched by the Chick Fil-A company and no one from the company or family is involved in proposing or promoting it.
All the squawking from either side of the aisle stems from recent comments made by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, who acknowledged in an interview that he and the company do not support same-sex marriage, affirming lengthy speculation from the public who have been dubious about the Georgia-based chain's religious and political leanings.
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In response, supporters of same-sex rights have staged protests and lambasted Cathy and the restaurant. Huckabee says the all-American values and success story of the Cathy family is being "smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left."
But today, Angelenos are heeding Huckabee's call. ABC7 reports that Mary Helen of Palmdale has already patronized the Chick-fil-A in Northridge today, and Helen says she supports Cathy's "passion and courage," adding: "He (Dan Cathy) has a right to do and say - it's his business. So [I am] here to support him."
Some Chick-fil-A owners, however, are trying to demonstrate that Cathy doesn't necessarily speak for them. Jeremiah Cillpam, the owner of the Chick-fil-A Hollywood issued a letter on Facebook recently, emphasizing that Cathy's views were "personal." Unfortunately for Cillpam, the Hollywood location is the site of a protest today put on by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
On Friday, Chick-fil-A locations nationwide are expected to be the site of same-sex "kiss in" protests.
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