Record Sales for Chick-fil-A Support; "National Same-Sex Kiss Day" Friday

announced in a press release that it saw record sales Wednesday on “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.”

“While we don’t release exact sales numbers, it was an unprecedented day,” said Steve Robinson, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Chick-fil-A, Inc. The chain has 1,600 locations, including one in Chesterfield.

Fans of the Chesterfield Valley Chick-fil-A showed their support for the restaurant's corporate stance, calling it Christian values, religious freedom, and freedom of speech.

Chesterfield Patch will follow up on this story with Friday's planned "National Same-Sex Kiss Day" organized to meet at Chick-fil-A.

The "appreciation day" or support was started by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and picked up by other conservative groups. Huckabee's Facebook event page called on people to buy food at the chain on Wednesday after a backlash against the company and its president.

The controversy started after Dan Cathy, the Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer, did a July 16 interview with the Baptist Press stating that he favored “traditional” marriage.

“We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

According to The New York Times, the statement might have gone unnoticed.

So Mr. Cathy’s statements might have passed without much notice except that Carly McGehee, a New Yorker, decided to stage a same-sex kiss-in on Aug. 3, urging gays and lesbians to show up at the company’s 1,600 restaurants around the country in protest.

The New York Times stated that Chick-fil-A has never hidden the religious leanings of its owners. The restaurant is closed on Sunday and donates money to groups that are anti-gay marriage.

The owner’s statement for “traditional” marriage incited mayors in Boston, New York, and Chicago to denounce the restaurant and block them from the cities.