The battleground in the culture war over gay marriage has moved firmly into the fast-food arena. Last week it was chicken; this week, it's coffee, as same-sex marriage advocates encouraged supporters to patronize mega-chain Starbucks on Tuesday.
In response to the runaway success of Chick-fil-A appreciation day last week, when tens of thousands of people flocked to show their support for the company's "family values" – and opposition to gay marriage – by getting chicken filets, the wedding magazine Equally Wed deemed Tuesday to be National Starbucks Appreciation Day and as of Tuesday evening, it had failed to get a comparable turnout.
Organizers of Tuesday's event said Starbucks executives encouraged them to include other organizations that support gay rights – including Google, Absolut Vodka and Ben & Jerry's – and they have since rebranded the day as National Marriage Equality Day.
National Marriage Equality day had more than 36,400 Facebook supporters Tuesday – greatly surpassing the amount of supporters at Same Sex Kiss at Chick-fil-A Day had last week. In stores, the event had a similarly mild response.
The Chick-fil-A appreciation event had 500,000 supporters online and garnered unprecedented sales for the fast-food chain. Many locations had lines out the door and some ran out of food.
In response, the executive vice-president of marketing at Chick-fil-A, Steve Robinson said: "The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year-old service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender."
This bout of retail activism in the name of same-sex rights arose after Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy affirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage. The company had already induced anger for donating millions to anti-gay groups in the past, but Cathy's comments triggered a large-scale response.
Equally Wed is encouraging event participants to take photos and broadcast their participation online. On Twitter, participants showed their support:
