Chick-fil-A Fans Turn Out in Tennessee

The Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Clarksville wrapped out of the parking lot, even before the lunch rush.

Chick-fil-A parking lots and drive-thrus are overflowing with a kind of counter protest. After the CEO made known his opposition to gay marriage, there were calls for a boycott. Former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee called for a kind of anti-boycott.

Wearing a golden cross around her neck, Janie Ellis picked up lunch for an entire office at a Clarksville Chick-fil-a. She says she’ll be back for dinner too. That’s how much she believes in the Atlanta-based restaurant chain and what its CEO said about backing the “biblical definition of a family.”

“That’s his choice. He owns the company and he has a every right to stand up for what he believes in, and I believe in that too.”

Lee Miller took his son to lunch to show his support, though he doesn’t necessarily oppose gay marriage. The young father who works in the restaurant business says he appreciates the Christian ethics the company claims to follow, like being closed on Sundays.

“The people who run this place, they’re guided by principles, not just money, money, money like everywhere else that I’ve ever worked is guided by.”

Lee Miller says he appreciates the Christian principles of Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A has not endorsed the so-called “Chick-fil-A Day” coined by Huckabee. The company has issued a statement that includes its non-discrimination policy. It also says “going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the…political arena.”

But the issue may be front and center again Friday. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is asking people to share a kiss at a Chick-fil-A for National Same-Sex Kiss Day.