Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has organized a Chick-fil-A “buy-cott” for Wednesday, Aug.1 after he became “incensed at the vitriolic assaults” on the Atlanta-based fast food chain in the wake of company COO Dan Cathy's comments on same-sex marriage.

Cathy, son of the company's founder Truett Cathy, told the Baptist Press in a recent interview that the company was “guilty as charged” in its opposition to same-sex marriages.

“We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy is quoted as saying. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

Billed as “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” Huckabee created a Facebook event, which already has some 50,000 attendees promising to patronize their local Chick-fil-A's on Aug. 1.

Huckabee wrote on the event page:

“I ask you to join me in speaking out on Wednesday, August 1 'Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day.' No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: 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, August 1.”

A counter event has also been created, “National Same-Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A,” for Friday, Aug. 3. So far, some 1,200 people have RSVP'd to the event.

But some gay rights activists say the effort is wasted on a company whose owners are entitled to their own personal opinions and religious beliefs.

Chick-fil-A locations are closed on Sundays, so that employees may attend church if they wish, and the Christian overtones were no secret before Cathy's recent comments to the Baptist Press.

Still, some hope that a change in corporate policy can be brought about by pressing the company through boycotts and awareness campaigns.

What do you think? Does Chick-fil-A owe it to customers to change its stance on same-sex marriage rights?

Top photo: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (via Facebook)