A kiss-in at the Chick-fil-A on Central Expressway near Lovers Lane in Dallas on Friday afternoon did not seem to keep chicken lovers away.
Supporters of same-sex marriage planned the demonstrations in response to Wednesday's "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Facebook postings by organizers called for people to stage "kiss-ins" at Chick-fil-A restaurants at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Hundreds of thousands of Texans jammed Chick-fil-As on Wednesday to show support for the company's president, who said in an interview that the company was "guilty as charged" for backing "the biblical definition of a family."
About a dozen couples showed showed up at the Central Expressway location to take pictures kissing with the Chick-fil-A sign in the background.
Jessie Weyman and her partner, Billie Jean Morsett, drove to the Central Expressway Chick-fil-A from Mansfield on Friday night.
Weyman said that she is a lesbian but is still religious.
"We have the right to believe in the Bible the way we believe it," she said.
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The couple have five kids, and say they just want to live as equals in the community.
"Everybody should be able to believe what they want to," Morsett said. "We have respect for that. It's just that we want others to respect us for who we are. And that's all we've ever wanted."
An earlier kiss-in at the Central Expressway Chick-fil-A began at about noon lasted until about 5 p.m.
Around a dozen demonstrators were equipped with mouthwash, breath freshener and posters, but there was hardly any kissing.
At lunchtime Friday, half a dozen Dallas police officers were at the Central Expressway store and ordered demonstrators to stay off the restaurant property.
The kiss-in was staged in a shaded, alley area behind the restaurant, where it had little effect on business.
"I actually just came here for chicken, but I follow the news, so I know what's going on,” customer Jason Juong said as he left with waffle fries and chicken strips. "This location, it's always this packed; it's just popular."
The location was much less busy through the afternoon Friday than it was during Wednesday's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, which was endorsed by radio talk show hosts and Christian ministers.
The company issued a statement Wednesday saying that all customers are welcome at its restaurants and that it wishes to distance itself from the marriage debate in the future.
"Personally, I don't think it's endorsing same-sex marriage," Chick-fil-A critic Kayla Foster said. "It's just endorsing love between two people. I personally am not part of the GLBT community. I am fully heterosexual. I just believe in civil rights, and equal rights for everybody and love for everybody."
Mick Garr, a Chick-fil-A supporter, confronted the kiss-in demonstrators.
"It's always the left that has the right to say what they want to say, but then the right doesn't have the right to say what we want to say, because we're rude, because we're mean, because it doesn't make you feel good," Garr said.
NBC 5's Omar Villafranca contributed to this report.
