Chick-Fil-A is all over the news lately after president Dan Cathy made remarks about the company’s stance on marriage which incensed the gay and lesbian community. It seems everyone has taken a side on the matter; one can’t scroll through a Facebook or Twitter feed without seeing something about it. And this week marks two very big events involving the company which are sure to turn up the fire under the story even more.
Today, thousands of Chick-Fil-A supporters are scheduled to show up at restaurants all over the country in appreciation of the company and their values, and it’s all thanks to former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Huckabee started an event on Facebook called “Support Chick-Fil-A” about a week ago, and since then it’s garnered almost 600,000 RSVPs as well as the support of Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin, and the Reverend Billy Graham. Huckabee has posted several photos from this morning as attendees spoke to reporters about their mission, and was very clear on his Facebook page that this was not organized as a “protest”, but rather as an event to support a company’s right to free speech.
A little over a week ago, I simply urged people to go and eat at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1. I mentioned it on my TV show and have been discussing it on my daily radio show. The media has called it a “protest.” It is most certainly not. No one is protesting anything. This is not a stand against a person, a group of people, or even someone else’s belief. This is a simple act of having a meal at a place that sells chicken, not politics. It’s to affirm to a Christian brother, Dan Cathy, that he has not been disenfranchised from his citizenship nor his right of free speech as a taxpaying American. It is about taking a stand for businesses to be free of economic bullying and hate speech. It is an opportunity to have a decent meal at a decent place that was founded and continues to be run by decent people who believe in treating their customers and employees with kindness and to say “thank you” to them. The only protest that I know of is coming from the chickens, who will give their lives in large numbers to accommodate what hopefully will be a big day at Chick Fil-A.
Chick Fil-A neither proposed this nor has promoted it. It was a simple idea I had and shared with a few friends, posted the online and asked them to share with their friends. I don’t have that many friends, but my friends seem to. Since then, over 21 million have viewed my Facebook event page. We are north of half a million people who have said they will eat at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday and still adding more. Millions more are aware of it and might show up in one of the 1600 Chick Fil-A stores.
The attacks on Christians are disturbing, especially by “wanna be tyrants, like the mayors of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D. C. who have vowed to either keep Chick Fil-A out of their communities or have openly said this business is not welcome because they (the mayors) don’t agree with the personal views of the Chick Fil- A CEO. Not only is such a position by the mayors illegal and unconstitutional, but it’s disturbing to think that anyone elected to public office would publicly exhibit their bigotry toward Christians, their hypocrisy in singling out only Christians, but not others including Muslims who have even stronger beliefs about same sex marriage, and their contempt of the law regarding censorship and free speech.
On Wednesday, the lines might be long, but your presence and your purchase is a statement. America doesn’t need more protesters-we’ll leave that to the Occupy crowd. America needs more protectors of freedom, family, and faith. And in this case, chicken nuggets!
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To counter the support day, supporters of the LGBT community have rallied to form an event on Friday which they’ve called “National Same-Sex Kiss Day” and will take place at Chick-Fil-A restaurants everywhere. Participants are encouraged to take photos and can join the event on the official Facebook page, where pictures and stories can be uploaded. WebProNews will cover that news on Friday as it develops.