Kansas City's Chick-fil-A, like locations across the country, had a line out the door yesterday.

Yesterday was Mike Huckabee’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, and opponents of marriage equality turned out in droves to proudly support the anti-gay restaurant chain. Religious bullying was on display at locations around the country as people as the media continued to conflate homophobia with Christianity. Here’s a round-up of the latest news in the Chick-fil-A controversy:

From The Chicken’s Mouth

Chick-fil-A was officially quiet yesterday, not tweeting anything, and saying only that “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not created by Chick-fil-A.” Given it’s not a publicly traded company, there will not be any public information about yesterday’s likely record-high sales. But according to Pastor Rick Warren, who is well known for his opposition to LGBT equality, Dan Cathy called to say it was a “world record day.”

It’s important to recognize that unlike other fast food chains, Chick-fil-A franchises are not independently owned, limiting the extent that local operators can speak out. That didn’t stop Lauren Silich, who runs Chicago’s only Chick-fil-A, from speaking out about her support for LGBT equality, though she would not specifically address the question of same-sex marriage.

Gay and lesbian employees of Chick-fil-A had perhaps the most disheartening reaction to the day. An Alabama gay staffer named Andrew described the day as “hater appreciation day,” calling it “very, very depressing.” A gay employee at the company’s headquarters in Atlanta heard a customer say, “I’m so glad you don’t support the queers, I can eat in peace.” Another in Colorado had customers telling him, “I support your company, because your company hates the gays.” Many report experiencing homophobia not just from customers, but from fellow employees as well.

The Media Cries Fowl

Unfortunately, much of the media coverage yesterday was simply an open display of anti-gay views without much to rebut them. Still, there were a few notable highlights. For example, Fox News’ Shep Smith, who supports marriage equality, made a quick jab at Huckabee, pointing out that it was “National Badminton Day,” so “forget National Day of Intolerance, let’s just stay with Badminton.”

Journalist Mark Krzos of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida, wrote on Facebook that covering Chick-fil-A yesterday was incredibly disheartening:

I have never felt so alien in my own country as I did today while covering the restaurant’s supporters. The level of hatred, unfounded fear and misinformed people was astoundingly sad. I can’t even print some of the things people said.

Food writer Josh Ozersky wrote in Time Magazine that he has changed his mind on Chick-fil-A, walking back his previous willingness to turn a blind eye: “I respect Chick-fil-A’s owners for taking a love-it-or-leave-it stance in regard to their religion; and, like a lot of people, I am choosing to leave it.”

A Sweet Alternative

A number of restaurants across the country offered alternatives to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day:

• Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen in New York City announced it would donate proceeds from its sales to Marriage Equality USA.
• The Sweet Avenue Bake Shop in Rutherford, New Jersey offered “Rainbow Pride” cupcakes with proceeds supporting Garden State Equality.
• Lake Worth, Florida held a “Celebrate Community & Diversity Day,” which included a Pajama Party to support diversity and LGBT businesses.
• The Chicago-based Hearty restaurant held “Chick-fil-Gay Appreciation Day,” donating 100 percent of sales from its fried chicken breast sandwiches to Equality Illinois.
• Chef Art Smith, who was once Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef, held a “Flick-the-hate” Chicken Fry at his personal residence in Chicago, asking guests to donate $100 or more each to support Equality Illinois.
• Numbers are still being tallied, but LGBT equality groups raised tens of thousands of dollars yesterday thanks to a Facebook event encouraging people to donate the cost of a chicken dinner for marriage equality.

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy preaching about his company's religious practices.

Earlier this week, a ThinkProgress reader wrote us, objecting to our description of Chick-fil-A as a “Christian-run” company. He cited the many steps the Episcopal Church has taken toward supporting LGBT equality as “real Christianity in action,” accusing Chick-fil-A of using Christianity as “cover for their own bigotry.” Obviously, ThinkProgress cannot and will not impose judgment upon how any individual, anti-LGBT or otherwise, expresses their religious beliefs. Nevertheless, the reader’s concern has considerable merit, and as conservatives flock to “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” it’s important to consider what exactly they are defending and how.

Arguably, the rise of the Christian Right is due for a 40th anniversary to mark the appropriation of Christianity by conservatives like Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schlafly, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Ralph Reed. This coalition of mostly evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Mormons has largely succeeded in reducing the cultural definition of being Christian to those who share their beliefs. The present-day ravings of faux-historian David Barton seek to push even farther and erase the religious diversity at the heart of American patriotism. The “culture war” over LGBT equality presents one of the clearest dividing lines, with anti-gay talking heads like Tony Perkins over-dominating the media on behalf of “Christianity” while LGBT-affirming Christians are severely under-represented.

Some have tried to shrug off the controversy about Chick-fil-A’s donations to anti-gay hate groups and condemnations of marriage equality, but it provides a very clear example of how conservatives hide behind the respect they expect for their religious beliefs to avoid accountability for the harm caused by their anti-gay words and actions. In doing so, they maintain a wedge between “Christianity” and the LGBT community that is far more volatile than the race wedges they have attempted. Here are some current examples of this “cover” in action:

• Mike Huckabee said Chick-fil-A must be defended against “hate speech and economic bullying” from those who “disenfranchise” Christians.
• Sarah Palin decried Chick-fil-A’s detractors as the ones who are “intolerant, bigoted, and hypocritical” for not agreeing with the comments made by its president, Dan Cathy.
• Conservative columnist Star Parker accused “homosexual activists” of a “hate campaign” against Chick-fil-A for the “crime of being a Christian.”
• Robert Knight of the conservative American Civil Rights Union described the Chick-fil-A controversy as a “smear campaign” and “fascistic assault” by “enraged liberals who are at war with nature and nature’s God.”
• Chicago Archbishop Francis Cardinal George stood by Chick-fil-A because allowing marriage equality would violate the “constitutionally protected freedom of religious belief and religious practice.”
• Former Los Angeles Archbishop Cardinal Roger M. Mahony accused those who disagree with Chick-fil-A of trying to “punish us for clinging to and expressing our faith beliefs.”
• The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue believes educated white people “want to punish those who hold to the traditional view,” an effort he describes as “madness laced with fascistic elements.”
• Even the National Organization for Marriage’s official “Thank Chick-fil-A” page identifies a “culture increasingly hostile to traditional and especially Christian values,” urging supporters to “stand firm by your Christian beliefs.”

But this is all a façade — one rife with Biblical hypocrisy, at that. There is nothing about the Chick-fil-A controversy that has anything to do with so-called “religious freedom.” The company donates millions of dollars yearly to organizations that actively work against the safety and health of LGBT people. Its president preaches that gays and lesbians should be scorned as “twisted up stuff” who “invite God’s judgment” upon society. These are all actions with direct consequences for LGBT people, and religion in no way justifies them. Certainly, many who identify as Christians — including many LGBT people — see Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay principles as foreign to their inclusive faiths, but their voices are largely absent from the public conversation.

The takeaway here must be how lopsided the “religious freedom” talking point is. If standing up for the fair treatment of LGBT people is an attack on conservative religious beliefs, then denying LGBT equality is just as much an attack on inclusive religious beliefs. Religion, itself, is thus a moot point in the debate, a “headless monster” used by conservatives only to further stigmatize and disenfranchize the LGBT community. Nobody should tolerate that, no matter how they spiritually identify.

Perhaps Mike Huckabee’s scheduling of his “appreciation day” is to blame, but there is a valid reason why Chick-fil-A has continued to occupy a prominent space in the news cycle. But despite what many detractors are now trying to claim, it has nothing to do with chicken. The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri’s mantra, “Judge the sandwich by the sandwich,” exemplifies this emerging attitude that the Chick-fil-A story is irrelevant. Petri, herself a supporter of marriage equality, thinks that the whole situation is a waste of time:

We are getting real life confused with politics, always a dangerous move. In politics, people seldom make much of anything. Gaffes. Pronouncements. Manufactured indignation. That’s about it. When the only thing you make is statements, you should be judged by the statements. That’s why we spend so much time going through all the remarks and half-quotes and misquotes with fine-toothed combs. But if you make anything besides remarks …

Judge the sandwich by the sandwich.

Is this a selfish position? Yes. But it’s consistent. If you want a world where your restaurateurs have to agree with you, you are going to be missing out on a lot of excellent sandwiches. And that is not a world I’d like to live in.

Petri might not wish to admit this, but she debunks her own argument. The position is selfish, but she gets the explanation wrong. The Chick-fil-A story is an important test for all people who claim to support LGBT equality, whether they themselves identify as LGBT or allies. It takes a certain amount of courage to say, “I support marriage equality,” and a different level of courage to say, “I’m not going to buy tasty chicken sandwiches because I know the profits are used to harm LGBT people.” Petri, like the Log Cabin Republicans’ R. Clarke Cooper, can’t be bothered with the task of actually taking personal responsibility to defend LGBT people if it means living in a world without “a lot of excellent sandwiches.”

There is a very obvious reason why all of the conservatives defending Chick-fil-A only talk about it as defending “traditional marriage,” ignoring president Dan Cathy’s vitriolic comments and the company’s odious donations. They want to minimize the validity for outrage and reduce the issue to one of mere First Amendment privilege. Conceding to that spin allows the true harm of funding ex-gay ministries and anti-gay hate groups to go unchecked. Chick-fil-A and its president Dan Cathy are nothing short of religious bullies, and attacking the LGBT community for standing up for themselves is an expression of either ignorance in regards to Chick-fil-A’s offenses, apathy for LGBT equality, laziness, or a combination of all three.

It’s worth noting that there have been no nationwide calls for boycotts of Chick-fil-A. Most of the efforts have been awareness-raising protests and verbal rebukes. In response to Huckabee’s “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” one group is calling on people to donate the cost of a chicken dinner (about $6.50) to support an LGBT advocacy organization. A world where LGBT people are free of bullying, violence, harassment, discrimination, income inequality, and health inequity sounds like a much better world than any chicken sandwich could define.

When the Jim Henson Company severed its relationship with Chick-fil-A and promised to donate profits from its current toy promotion to GLAAD, Chick-fil-A responded by pulling the toys from its meals claiming an inexplicable safety concern. The restaurant moved on to its next kids’ meal offer: books from the Berenstain Bears series, apparently about the Golden Rule. The Berenstain family is now also distancing itself from Chick-fil-A, having posted the following note on its home page and Facebook page:

Our publisher, HarperCollins, is marketing several of their Berenstain Bears titles through a kids’ meal promotion at Chick-Fil-A scheduled for August. This program was in development for over a year. We were unaware of any controversy involving Chick-Fil-A until July 25th.

The Berenstain family does not at this time have control over whether this program proceeds or not. We hope those concerned about this issue will direct their comments toward HarperCollins and Chick-Fil-A.

ThinkProgress reached out to the Berenstain family to see if they had specific concerns about Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s anti-gay comments, but received no response. Thus, it’s not clear if the Berenstains are distancing themselves because they do not approve of Cathy’s comments (as Lisa Henson specified she did not), or if they simply wish to avoid responding to negative feedback related to the controversy. Regardless, it is becoming evident that the Chick-fil-A brand is toxic because of its condemnations of same-sex marriage and the LGBT community.

The pro-Chick-fil-A, anti-equality sign outside the WhiteBriar Bed and Breakfast.

Joianne Fraschilla is a lesbian mom in New Jersey whose son has been eager to visit the petting zoo at the WhiteBriar Bed & Breakfast they pass by regularly. This week, they noticed a sign outside the B&B promoting tomorrow’s “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” organized by Mike Huckabee, as well as the message “One man, one woman, one God.” Fraschilla wrote on the B&B’s Facebook wall that she would not be bringing her son there because she was disappointed a local business was anti-equality. She received the following response, presumably from WhiteBriar co-owner Carole Lokan-Moore:

Isn’t it wonderful Joanne Fraschilla, that you and your son can enjoy the animals here because I have a traditional marriage with a husband who works with me 90 hours a week to take care of these animals, and the summer camp….we’re 66-68 years old….there were no gays or queers in our time…..if two old ladies chose to live together..so be it, let them deal with God when they get there…but to have the “face sucking” thrown in my face of two gay lesbians who are totally destroying the “normal balance in a child’s life” as you claim your son…where is the role model that your son needs to know how to act like a man? or will he only see the “one sided selfishness” of a “single parent”…and end up an out cast in society by being “gay” himself because he didn’t have a father as a role model. I’ll pray for you….remember what the bible says: “Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas”…..guess that’s why God invented aids…

THIS LOCAL BUSINESS WILL BE ONE MAN ONE WOMAN ONE GOD MAKES MARRIAGE….AND PROUD TO DO SO….YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY TO OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Fraschilla has started a Change.org petition calling on WhiteBriar to apologize for the indefensible comment. It’s worth noting that Lokan-Moore ran for the New Jersey Senate, but lost in the GOP primary having garnered only 416 votes.

Many conservatives have asked why it matters what Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy personally believes, and the very easy answer is that words hurt. Cathy’s use of language of condemning marriage equality as “twisted up stuff” that invokes God’s wrath upon society invites others to do the same, complete with AIDS-is-God’s-punishment-for-homosexuality embellishments.

R. Clarke Cooper

The Log Cabin Republicans’ R. Clarke Cooper today penned a scathing rebuke of LGBT activists and allies who have been speaking out against Chick-fil-A for its anti-gay policies. Confirming for his conservative brethren that “gay people really are the thought police,” Cooper lashes out at “Chick-fil-A haters” for being “superficial, vindictive, and juvenile”:

Turning a chicken sandwich into Public Gay Enemy Number One makes LGBT people look superficial, vindictive and juvenile — everything that we as a community have worked hard to overcome. Remember, employers don’t want drama queens on the payroll, military service is serious business, and marriage is not a right society grants to spoiled children. While in a perfect world our equality should not depend on our good behavior, in a world where our rights too often hinge on political reality, the way our movement conducts itself matters.

The “movable middle” moves both ways, and they don’t like seeing people attacked relentlessly for their religion. Whatever the nuances, these voters see a man standing up for his beliefs against a politically powerful mob dead-set on driving him out of business. It’s un-American, and when fellow conservatives are finally standing up and speaking out for marriage equality as consistent with the sober values of responsibility and commitment, splashing a popular American company with metaphorical chicken blood in protest is nothing less than friendly fire.

Amazingly, Cooper manages to buy into almost every talking point used by those defending Chick-fil-A while still purporting to support LGBT equality. While some conservatives (and “some” may yet be generous) are speaking out for marriage equality, Chick-fil-A is surely doing the opposite. There’s nothing “friendly” about a company president outright condemning marriage equality advocates as “inviting God’s judgment” while giving millions of dollars to anti-gay hate groups and ex-gay organizations. The Log Cabin Republicans say on their website that theirs is “is the only Republican organization dedicated to representing the interests of gay and lesbian Americans and their allies”;  Chick-fil-A is neither.

The backlash against Chick-fil-A has nothing to do with being “thought police,” but about holding those with money and influence accountable. The struggle for LGBT equality extends far beyond the legal hurdles Cooper reduced it to in this post. Finding acceptance in society and minimizing language that stigmatizes is key to ending the bullying and minority stress at the root of LGBT people’s health and economic inequities. Cooper’s flagrantly offensive argument ignores both the actual lives of a community he claims to represent as well as the harm done by Dan Cathy’s remarks and his company’s donations.

Cooper claims that it’s a struggle to convince conservatives to support equality when the “spoiled children” of the LGBT community are standing up for themselves against vicious public attacks. If he’s willing to sacrifice dignity for equality, then it’s unclear if he’s “representing the interests” of anyone at all.