LOS ANGELES TIMES: The chicken sandwich became a political statement for a day as supporters of the Chick-fil-A president’s stance against gay marriage caused traffic jams at the fast-food chain’s restaurants nationwide. Baking in the Southern California summer heat, lines of Chick-fil-A fans snaked around the eateries and down streets Wednesday as patrons ignored gay rights advocates armed with “Cluck Off” signs and vuvuzelas urging them to eat elsewhere. Crammed drive-throughs caused traffic jams on nearby streets, often requiring attendants to direct cars. At several locations in Orange County and Long Beach, lunchtime crowds swelled to more than 100 people. Similar crowds converged across the country at Chick-fil-A, which has more than 1,600 branches. In Madison, Ala., police were called to maintain order. Some customers waited outside Chick-fil-A restaurants carrying 8-foot crosses or dressed as Superman, according to users on micro-blogging site Twitter. Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum tweeted about his Chick-fil-A lunch. “OK leftists go crazy,” he wrote. The huge crowds were responding to a call from another former presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, who had dubbed Aug. 1 as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day after the chain’s president, Dan Cathy, publicly spoke out against same-sex unions two weeks ago. MORE
NEW YORKER: Customers across the nation who turned out for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day were in for a surprise, as the chicken restaurant chose today to launch a new product, Hate Sauce. Delighted customers mobbed the restaurants to try the zesty new sauce, with many chicken fanciers ordering their sandwiches with extra hate. “It’s so spicy it makes your mouth feel like it’s on fire—like a gay couple in hell,” said Harland Dorrinson, who sampled the sauce at a Chick-fil-A in Orlando. MORE
TIME: Opposition to gay marriage has become a matter of pride for the Georgia-based chain. Worse by far is the support, as IRS forms show, by the WinShape Foundation (Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm) for various anti-gay bodies including 
Exodus International, whose leaders talked up its gay “cure” in Uganda before the country introduced legislation that threatens gays with death or imprisonment — although Exodus now says that going to that anti-gay conference was a mistake. The problem with Chick-fil-A goes beyond LBGT issues. A former worker recently filed a lawsuit against the parent company in which she claims that a franchise owner of a Chick-fil-A in Georgia fired her so she could be a stay-at-home mom. The corporate culture embraces an overt religiosity, from prayer meetings at business retreats to asking people who apply for an operator license to disclose their marital status and number of dependents. MORE
EQUALITY MATTERS: WinShape Is Chick-Fil-A’s Charitable Arm. The WinShape Foundation is Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, created by Chick-fil-A founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy in 1984. WinShape has received a substantial amount of funding from Chick-fil-A: in 2010 alone, WinShape received $8,067,161 from Chick-fil-A Inc. [WinShape 2010, Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed 6/27/12]. WinShape Gave Over $1.9 Million To Anti-Gay Groups. In 2010, WinShape donated $1,974,380 to a number of anti-gay groups:
- Marriage & Family Foundation: $1,188,380
- Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
- National Christian Foundation: $247,500
- New Mexico Christian Foundation: $54,000
- Exodus International: $1,000
- Family Research Council: $1,000
- Georgia Family Council: $2,500 MORE
NUMBER OF TIMES JESUS CHRIST MENTIONS HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE BIBLE: 0