Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast food chain that "didn't invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich," maintains a famously conservative and Christian corporate culture. It even keeps stores closed on Sunday. According to the New York Times, some gay groups are crying fowl (apologies) over the company's alliance with conservative pro-family non-profits:

Nicknamed “Jesus chicken” by jaded secular fans and embraced by Evangelical Christians, Chick-fil-A is among only a handful of large American companies with conservative religion built into its corporate ethos. But recently its ethos has run smack into the gay rights movement. A Pennsylvania outlet’s sponsorship of a February marriage seminar by one of that state’s most outspoken groups against homosexuality lit up gay blogs around the country. Students at some universities have also begun trying to get the chain removed from campuses. “If you’re eating Chick-fil-A, you’re eating anti-gay,” one headline read. The issue spread into Christian media circles, too. The outcry moved the company’s president, Dan T. Cathy, to post a video on the company’s Facebook fan page to “communicate from the heart that we serve and value all people and treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect,” said a company spokesman, Don Perry.

At the Chronicle for Higher Education, Peter Wood says the efforts to remove Chick-fil-A from college campuses carries the tinge of intolerance. "So far as I can tell, no one has accused Chick-fil-A of discriminating against gays and lesbians in its employment practices or its customer service," Wood writes. "Presumably Chick-fil-A contributes to other groups that hold similar views. Does that really provide a sound reason to those who favor gay marriage to drive Chick-fil-A off campus?"

As a Georgia native and Chick-fil-A enthusiast, I can attest to one of the most positive consequences of the chain's conservative ethos: the quality of customer service is unmatched in fast food. The staff are the most courteous and helpful of any fast food restaurant, always ending interactions with a "my pleasure" and treating every customer with respect. I've found this Southern hospitality to be the same in every Chick-fil-A restaurant I've ever been to. And from the waffle fries to the fresh-squeezed lemonade to the delectable fried-in-peanut-oil chicken, the food is nothing to sniff at, either. Founder and owner Truett Cathy has built a model business for the fast food industry.

I could go on about how great Chick-fil-A is, but I think comedian Tim Hawkins best expressed this through song: