Chick-fil-A claims that it had a record-setting day yesterday, when millions of people answered Mike Huckabee’s call for “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” to show support for traditional marriage. 

Lots of people turned the debate into a matter of free speech, saying protestors were wrong to boycott a person expressing his religious beliefs. As writer David Badash points out, this isn’t just about what Dan Cathy said - it’s about the millions of dollars he’s donated to anti-gay groups.

And it seems that the people who came out to support Chick-fil-A in its hour of need didn’t all have free speech on their minds, either. Some really unfortunate anecdotes rounded up by the Advocate:

One of her fellow employees said he wished gays would go hungry. And The Huffington Post reports on gay and lesbian employees who said customers repeatedly thanked them for hating gay people.

“I’m so glad you don’t support the queers, I can eat in peace,” one employee remembers being told, according to The Huffington Post.

At the Chick-fil-A in Hollywood, just outside predominantly gay city West Hollywood, singer Pat Boone showed up in line. “Marriage is something instituted by God,” he said. Boone was among a distinctly homophobic crowd. They told cameras that “homosexuality is not about love, it is not about family, it is not about civil rights, it’s about sex.” Another customer claimed being gay leads to polyamory.

Breaks my heart. Free speech is cool; shameless gay-bashing isn’t.