Starbucks the latest retail venue for same-sex marriage advocacy

The battleground in the culture war over gay marriage has moved firmly into the fast-food arena. Last week it was chicken; this week, it’s coffee, as same-sex marriage advocates encouraged supporters to patronize mega-chain Starbucks on Tuesday.

In response to the runaway success of Chick-fil-A appreciation day last week, when tens of thousands of people flocked to show their support for the company’s “family values” by getting chicken filets, the wedding magazine Equally Wed deemed Tuesday to be National Starbucks Appreciation Day and as of Tuesday evening, it had failed to get a comparable turnout.

Organizers of Tuesday’s event said Starbucks executives encouraged them to include other organizations that support gay rights – including Google, Absolut Vodka and Ben & Jerry’s – and they have since rebranded the day as National Marriage Equality Day.

National Marriage Equality day had more than 36,400 Facebook supporters Tuesday – greatly surpassing the amount of supporters at Same Sex Kiss at Chick-fil-A Day had last week. In stores, the event had a similarly mild response.

The Chick-fil-A appreciation event had 500,000 supporters online and garnered unprecedented sales for the fast-food chain. Many locations had lines out the door and some ran out of food.

In response, the executive vice-president of marketing at Chick-fil-A, Steve Robinson said: “The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year-old service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”

This bout of retail activism in the name of same-sex rights arose after Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy affirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage. The company had already induced anger for donating millions to anti-gay groups in the past, but Cathy’s comments triggered a large-scale response.

Equally Wed is encouraging event participants to take photos and broadcast their participation online. On Twitter, participants showed their support:

Off to @starbucks for a red eye to say thanks for the support #marriageequality #equallywed

— Amy Laskin (@amylsays) August 7, 2012