Customers come out in droves to stand with Chick-fil-A

The drive-thru line snaked out of the Chick-fil-A restaurant at Butler Blvd. and Phillips Hwy. at some points Wednesday morning.

The restaurant's operator confirmed to me that there had been an increase in the normal flow of customers, saying the number of people that came in Wednesday was more akin to a Thursday or Friday crowd, and that people were ordering larger quantities than normal, too.

Patrons came in support on a day that has been dubbed Chick-fil-A Apprecition Day.  The effort is spearheaded by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.  Chick-fil-A president and COO Dan Cathy recently told the "Baptist Press" the company was "guilty as charged" for backing traditional marriage.

Gay rights advocates are calling for a boycott, and political leaders in Boston and Chicago told the chain it is not welcome in their respective cities.

Many supporters of same-sex marriage have stopped coming to the restaurant altogether, but there are still plenty of others like Vicki Higbee, who says she loves Chick-fil-A and wanted to come show her support.

"They're a wonderful, family-oriented business...I don't think that a business should be penalized because someone has an opinion," she said

Higbee says for her, this is not an issue of supporting or opposing same-sex marriage, but rather an issue of exercising her right to free speech, just as the Chick-fil-A president did.  Another customer, Jerry Dean, told me he came to get breakfast for his entire office

"Everybody can stand for what they want, but I think a lot of times on Christianity's side, we don't stand up enough."

Another patron, Gary says he and his friends have a place they usually go for breakfast, but they decided to change things up today.

"They've already taken a stand by their views on being closed on Sunday.  That's a big deal to me," Gary said.

One of Gary's buddies, Mark, says he respects the company president taking a stand for what he believes in.

"If the owner of this company is standing up for family values, for God, that's his right."

Mark told me he comes to Chick-fil-A often, but says now he'll just have to come twice as much.  He's already planning on stopping by the Tinseltown location for dinner.

While the company's president has made his views clear, the company itself is staying out of the fray.  In a tweet posted to Chick-fil-A's twitter page on July 19 says "Our mission is to create raving fans; we plan to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the political arena."