DES PERES, Mo. (KMOV) –A vandal spray painted an anti-hate message on a Missouri Chick-Fil-A on Saturday in what appeared to be a response to the fast-food chain owners’ opposition to same-sex unions.
According to the store, someone spray painted “don’t hate” on the drive-through road and one of the store’s brick walls.
The vandalism comes just one day after gay rights activists and other supporters of marriage equality planned a “Kiss In” at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country. Participants were encouraged to come to the fast-food chains and kiss a fellow demonstrator of the same sex.
The “Kiss In” was planned after hundreds of thousands of customers, many of them conservative Christians, recognized “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” at more than 1,600 locations.
The company said in a statement the turnout Wednesday made for “an unprecedented day,” although it says it doesn’t release exact sales numbers.
“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,” the statement said.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy stirred the controversy when he told a religious publication last month that the company was “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.”
In a later radio interview, Cathy said: “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.”’
The Southern Baptist Cathy family has long been known for using biblical principles to operate its business, including never opening the company’s stores on Sundays.
