PECKING ORDER:The line for the Chick-fil-A runs through the food court and into an auxiliary hallway (above) at the Paramus Park Mall yesterday as diners show support for the chicken-chain CEO’s right to express his views against same-sex marriage. (Christopher Sadowski)
PECKING ORDER: The line for the Chick-fil-A runs through the food court (above) and into an auxiliary hallway (inset) at the Paramus Park Mall yesterday as diners show support for the chicken-chain CEO’s right to express his views against same-sex marriage. (
)
It took more than hour to order a chicken sandwich at a New Jersey Chick-fil-A yesterday as hundreds of diners descended on the fast-food chain to show their support for the company’s CEO — a vocal critic of gay marriage.
The scene at the Paramus Park Mall, where the long lines snaked throughout the food court into the early evening, was played out at hundreds of other Chick-fil-A locations throughout the country in a show of solidarity for the company’s president, Dan Cathy, and free speech.
“We’re here to show support for his freedom of speech and his right to say what he wants, whether we agree or disagree,” said Eric Arosemowicz, who came with his wife, Dana.
It was a backlash to a backlash.
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The crusade against Chick-fil-A began after Cathy was posed a question about whether his Atlanta-based firm supports the traditional view of a family — marriage between a man and a woman.
“Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy, who also keeps the restaurants closed on Sundays. “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of a family unit.”
For weeks, supporters of gay marriage, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Boston Mayor Tom Menino, mulled boycotts or even banning the company because of Cathy’s opposition to gay marriage.
Quinn wrote a letter to New York University, the site of the only Chick-fil-A in the city, urging the school not to let the chain remain on campus because of its “discriminatory views.”
That restaurant is currently closed for the summer and Quinn doesn’t want it reopened.
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray went so far as to accuse the chain of selling “hate chicken.”
“I think the mayors of those big cities need to worry about their local issues and not worry about what the founder believes about marriage,” said Dana Arosemowicz, while waiting at the New Jersey eatery with her husband.
But Mayor Bloomberg broke ranks with his peers, defending the company’s right to do business despite its exec’s views.
The day — dubbed “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” — was the brainchild of conservative ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who first unveiled his plan to support the family-owned, 1,615-store chain on Facebook.
“The goal is simple,” said Huckabee. “Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday.”
People around the country answered his call.
“I took the afternoon off just to support the freedom of religious beliefs and speech,” home health care nurse Christin De Meo, 51, said after about an hour on line in Paramus.
Ken Walsh, the owner/operator of the Paramus outlet, was stunned by the huge crowd.
“We never have lines like this,” said Walsh.
Neighboring eateries in the mall’s food court were near empty.
The company itself seemed to distance itself from “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” yesterday, issuing a terse e-mail statement to news outlets.
“Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not created by Chick-fil-A,” said Executive Vice President of Marketing Steve Robinson.
Regardless, the Chick-fil-A’s around the country were packed.
In Crystal City, Va., Courtney Clem, 22, grabbed a bag of sandwiches for her coworkers.
“We want to support their right to an opinion,” Clem told ABC, adding that she agrees with Cathy’s position.
“I do support that opinion. And the right. Even if it was an opinion I disagreed with, I’d be here today.”
Supporters of same-sex marriage, meanwhile, will have their say tomorrow during planned “Kiss-ins” at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country. Organizers want gays and lesbians to show up en masse for a display of same-sex smooching at outlets.