In 2012, Chick-fil-A Chairman, President, and CEO, Dan Cathy ignited a wildfire of outrage amongst gay activists.
His crime? Daring to make public statements in support of the family and marriage.
Gay activists and their sympathizers launched an all-out campaign to boycott Chick-fil-A and put the Christian company out of business.
But a recent report shows this was perhaps the most unsuccessful boycott campaign of all time.
But first, some background. Here are the statements that fired up activists to boycott Chick-fil-A:
“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.’”
“I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. … We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that.”
“We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
These statements were apparently so unacceptable to anti-Faith radicals that alerts went out all across the Internet that Chick-fil-A must be shut down.
But things got even worse than a mere boycott.
One by one, Chick-fil-A locations across the country were vandalized.
First a location in Des Peres, Missouri was spray painted by activists, then locations in Torrance, California and Frederick, Maryland only a few days later.
Random acts of vandalism by gay activists at Chick-fil-A restaurants have been a problem ever since, with the most recent publicly reported case occurring in October of last year (2018) at an Olney, Maryland location where statements like “Homophobic scum” and “Blood is on Your Hands” were written in black permanent marker on windows and the brick walls.
In addition to vandalism, gay activists organized massive protests across the country bringing crowds to Chick-fil-A restaurants.
They called the protests “kiss ins” or “kiss days” where gay couples were encouraged to go to restaurants and perform public displays of affection in front of dining families.
The controversy continues to this day.
Any time Chick-fil-A seeks to open a new restaurant where there is a sizeable presence of gay activists there are protests and appeals to the local government to stop the restaurant from opening.
College campuses with Chick-fil-A locations are protested regularly by students who want the restaurants removed.
Just last year, after protests, Rider University in New Jersey canceled plans to bring Chick-fil-A to campus despite the fact that it was voted by students as their top choice for new restaurants being considered.
This brings us to the main point.
Despite the extraordinarily loud and hostile protests of the gay activist minority, Chick-fil-A remains incredibly popular amongst the American public.
And their sales numbers prove it.
Chick-fil-A has seen consistent growth over the years, and according to research by Kalinowski Equity Research, Chick-fil-A is poised to become the third largest restaurant chain in the U.S., up from its 7th place ranking last year.
If the goal of gay activists was to boycott Chick-fil-A out of business, it has to have been the most unsuccessful boycott in history.