Chick-fil-A crowds throng to eat chicken

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Supporters are crowding into Chick-fil-As across the United States because of its support of traditional marriage, ABC News reported.

Gay rights groups announced a boycott of the 66-year-old chicken chain last week, and the mayors of Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington are supporting it. Chick-fil-A Chief Executive Officer Dan Cathy said he was "guilty as charged" for not supporting gay marriage.

But more than 630,000 supporters signed up to celebrate Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, a creation of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"The goal is simple," Huckabee wrote on the Facebook page. "Let's affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, Aug. 1."

Some gay rights groups are picketing, protesting and staging "same-sex kiss ins" at some Chick-fil-A locations around the country, The Washington Post reported.

Last month, the Post said, Cathy told an online Baptist journal his company was "very much supportive of the biblical family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are still married to our first wives. While my family and I believe in the biblical definition of marriage [between a male and female], we love and respect everyone who disagrees."