Gay rights advocates have "kiss in" at Chick-fil-A outlets

By Marty Sabota

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH -- "I'm straight and I love their milkshakes, but I'll never eat here again," Rachel Moore declared Friday as she joined the National Same Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A.

Moore was with 11 people outside the fast-food restaurant on West Seventh Street.

The protest didn't attract quite the number of people who turned out Wednesday to support the chain's president's opposition to gay marriage.

But they were just as adamant.

At the outlet near Montgomery Plaza in near west Fort Worth, where long lines formed Wednesday, 11 people -- most of them gay -- gathered at 7 p.m. and kissed behind a large American flag that one of them brought.

Margaret and Kathi Perez, who said they married in San Francisco, came to show support for the gay cause. However, they said they didn't consider themselves activists, just a married couple who run a nearby computer repair business.

"We have eaten here two or three times a week since it opened," said Margaret Perez, 46. "But no more."

She said she wasn't disappointed in the light turnout, adding that Fort Worth is very supportive of gay people and gay rights.

"If you're talented and you provide an honest, good service, this is the city for you," Margaret Perez said. "It's very tolerant."

But Moksha Efsea, 58, who was there with his partner, J.T. Dale, 21, was disappointed at the turnout.

"I've lost business because I've been outspoken about gay rights and demanding my right to marry," said Efsea, who runs a pet-sitting business.

The Chick-fil-A flap began a few weeks ago when company President Dan Cathy was quoted in a Southern Baptist publication that the company backs "the biblical definition of a family" and later 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.'"

That led to denunciations by gay-rights supporters and some politicians, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. That, in turn, led former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and Fox News talk0show host, to declare Wednesday a Chick-fil-A appreciation day.

Earlier, on July 19, a gay-rights activist started a Facebook campaign calling for the "kiss day" on Friday. Cathy McGehee, a Flower Mound native who lives in New York, has been quoted as saying she chose Aug. 3 for the protest because it's the anniversary of the day the Episcopal Church elected its first openly gay bishop.

Andrew Benton, 31, and girlfriend Moore joined the demonstration on West Seventh.

"Your religion is messing with my rights," said Benton, of Arlington.

Inside, employees said they had been told not to discuss the protest.

A customer, Ashley Wynoe, said she supports gay rights but still brought her children, ages 2 and 4, to eat there Friday night.

"That kind of stuff is still going to happen, gay rights or whatever," she said of Cathy's stance.

Several miles away, at the Chick-fil-A in the 3200 block of South Hulen Street, no single protesters were in sight.

Robert Dominguez, 67, walked to the restaurant from his home to get a quick dinner.

I say 'Live and let live,'" Dominguez said. "I'm going to get a sandwich and go home."

In Georgia, Julie Romano, an organizer at the Decatur store, just outside Atlanta, told The Associated Press that she thinks Cathy "is operating with cafeteria-style religion and a lot of people, extremist like him are, they pick and choose what it is they want to believe."

This report includes material from The Associated Press and the Star-Telegram archives.

Marty Sabota,

817-390-7367