Employees at the Chick-fil-A in Cookeville, Tenn., arrived last Thursday morning to discover their building had been vandalized with a message that used a gay slur -- apparently in support of LGBT equality.
Someone spray-painted "God Loves Fags and Chicken!" on the side of the building while the restaurant was closed last Wednesday night, reports WKRN.
Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country have seen protests -- and in at least two instances in California and Maryland, vandalism -- after it was revealed that the company donated $5 million to anti-LGBT organizations, and the company's chief operating officer announced that he and his company oppose marriage equality in 2012.
Tennesee's leading LGBT organization, the Tennesee Equality Project, condemned the vandalism and denied any involvement with the incident.
"It concerns us because our community has been the victim of that kind of violence and continues to be," executive director Chris Sanders told WKRN. "What if during this act of vandalism someone was shutting down the Chick-fil-A or the cleaning crew was leaving and there had been a violent confrontation?"
"We understand why people get angry about things in the news, things that happen and things that effect equality but there are very productive peaceful ways of dealing with them we think," Sanders added.
The Cookeville Chick-fil-A did not file a police report, but simply had the graffiti removed, WKRN reports.
Watch that local report below.
WKRN, Nashville News, Nashville Weather and Sports