No arrests yet for 'hate' graffiti at Torrance Chick-fil-A

Torrance police are continuing to investigate graffiti scrawled on the side of a Chick-fil-A restaurant last week amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the fast-food restaurant and its chief executive's recent comments regarding gay marriage.

"Tastes Like Hate" was painted on the side of the Torrance restaurant Thursday night, the eve of "National Same-Sex Kiss Day," where couples were asked to take photos of themselves kissing at Chick-fil-A restaurants to show support for gay rights.

Torrance police Sgt. Steve Jenkinson said detectives were aware that local gay artist Manny Castro had taken credit for the graffiti in an interview with the Huffington Post, but said no arrests had been made as of Monday morning.

"Our investigators are still working the information that they have," Jenkinson said. "We're still actively investigating."

Patrols were stepped up near the city's Chick-fil-A locations following the vandalism, Jenkinson added, but no other restaurants have reported problems.

The vandalism came during a week of demonstrations at Chick-fil-A restaurants nationwide. Huge crowds turned out Wednesday for "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" to support company President Dan Cathy, who recently expressed his opposition to gay marriage in an interview.

"Everybody is entitled to free speech, but it seems like for the gay tribe, this is more of an issue of equal rights — human rights," Castro, the artist who said he was behind the graffiti, told the Huffington Post on Friday. "I'm against what these people stand for, what this company stands for. They're trying to take away what little rights we already have."

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— Kate Mather 

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Photo: Workers paint over graffiti left on a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Torrance. Credit: Sandy Mazza / Daily Breeze