American neo-Nazis and some top black conservatives have found rare common ground — over Chick-fil-A’s stand against gay marriage.
The two sides rallied around “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” during which patrons — and protesters — swarmed restaurants Wednesday in response to the company’s support for “the Biblical definition of the family unit.”
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s recent comments have sparked a new front in the culture war over gay marriage, and led Democratic mayors Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Tom Menino of Boston to declare that the company is not welcome in their cities.
In response, ex-Arkansas Governor and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, now a Fox News host, called on viewers to eat at one of the fast-food joints Wednesday to show support.
One member of the skinhead Internet forum Crew38 was already there, according to the SITE Monitoring service, which tracks extremists online.
“I had Chick-fil-A today for lunch and it was delicious and non-gay … just how I like it,” one member wrote.
Members of the Project 21 black leadership network, a branch of the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research, also backed Huckabee’s call to dine at Chick-fil-A.
“Being against gay marriage is not being anti-gay,” said Project 21 member Demetrius Minor. “The last time I checked, Chick-fil-A wasn’t expressing a desire for gays not to eat at their restaurants or seek employment with them.”
Both groups rapped the progressive left as hypocritical, alleging it espouses tolerance while not tolerating conflicting views.
So if you have been living under a rock like most people have, then you might not quite understand the hype over Chic-Fil-A which barely exist in the NY/NJ Area. So here’s a sum up of what we have been able to gather.
Chick-Fil-A’s across the country were flooded Wednesday with support from chicken lovers who support Dan Cathy’s stance on gay matrimony-dom who came out to dine on the franchise’s “Appreciation Day”:
Mike Huckabee said Thursday that the success of “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” went beyond “anything I could have imagined,” saying stores across the country reported “record, historic sales.”
The former Arkansas governor and Fox News host was reacting after customers flocked to hundreds of local franchises Wednesday following a call by Huckabee for patrons to show their support. The call came after CEO Dan Cathy came under fire in some circles for his opposition to same-sex marriage.
There’s just one Chick-fil-A in New York City — on the campus of New York University.
Mayor Bloomberg, while not an opponent of gay marriage, has sided with civil libertarians, who argued that businesses have a First Amendment right to operate where they choose regardless of management’s opinions on social issues.
More than 630,000 visitors pledged online to participate in Huckabee’s event, while his Facebook page included photos of lines snaking out of restaurants around the country.
The privately held company would not, however, share sales figures for the day, Chick-fil-A spokeswoman Hannah Wagner told the Daily News.
The company issued a statement Tuesday asserting its Bible-derived values but adding: “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”
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