SILVER SPRING, Md. -
First there was Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, and now, just the opposite.
Gay rights advocates urged participants to lock lips outside the chain's restaurants nationwide with "kiss-ins" to protest company head Dan Cathy's support of the biblical view of marriage that it's between a man and a woman.
"Chick-fil-A donates to groups that are against marriage equality and lots of things that hurt people like me," says Tate Jawdat.
Debbie Boyd didn't find the protest appetizing.
"Kids are here," Boyd says. "You raise your kids one way and come out here to find this crap going on."
Another mom didn't have a problem with it.
"We have many same sex couples as friends. It's not an issue, not an issue," she said.
But will this public display of affection-filled protest hurt the message the gay community is trying to send? May Jawdat, who came to the "Kiss-In" with her spouse, doesn't think so.
"I honestly think that no matter how attractive you are or pleasant about things, there's always going to be someone who hates you," Jawdat says. "I just prefer to be myself."
The "Kiss-In" didn't seem to have much effect on business at the Silver Spring restaurant. The line inside was nearly out the door, just like they were on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, held to support the company president.
Sales that day were unprecedented, although company officials won't release the exact numbers. They aren't saying how much they give to anti-gay groups either. Some analysts put the number at somewhere around $2 million annually.
