'You are not welcome here': Pro-LGBTQ-rights consumers vow to boycott Chick-fil-A after it announces it's opening in Toronto

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Angry customers are boycotting Chick-fil-A.

• Chick-fil-A is opening in Toronto, and many Canadians aren't too pleased about it. 
• The fast-food chain has a long and contentious relationship with the LGBTQ community, and it has a reputation for being a homophobic institution.
• Angry consumers are boycotting the company on social media, saying that it has "no place" in Canada and that it "should stay out."

Chick-fil-A didn't receive a very warm welcome when it announced plans to open in Toronto this week. 

The fast-food chain has a long and contentious relationship with the LGBTQ community, and it has a reputation for being a homophobic institution.

CEO Dan Cathy has been vocal in the past about not supporting same-sex marriage because it goes against the company's religious values. In 2012, he told The Baptist Press that he was "guilty as charged" when it came to his stance on how a family should be constructed.

"We are very much supportive of the family - the biblical definition of the family unit," he said. 

It was then revealed that the chain, through its WinShape Foundation, had donated more than $2 million to organizations that oppose same-sex marriage two years earlier.

Because of this, angry consumers are boycotting the company on social media, saying that it has "no place" in Canada and that it "should stay out."

"I know your homophobic history and your bankrolling of political candidates who promote anti-LGBT discrimination. That bigotry has no place in Canada. I will be boycotting you and encouraging others to do the same," one Twitter user wrote on Wednesday. 

"Chick fil a is proudly anti-LGBTQ so no thank you. I'll be spending my money elsewhere #boycottchickfila," another user wrote on Friday morning. 

Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Chick-fil-A has tried to repair its image after its CEO's comments.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2014, Cathy said, "Every leader goes through different phases of maturity, growth and development and it helps by [recognizing] the mistakes that you make ... And you learn from those mistakes. If not, you're just a fool. I'm thankful that I lived through it and I learned a lot from it," Time reported.

He said he recognized that consumers "want to do business with brands that they can interface with, that they can relate with," and told the paper that the company does not discriminate against employees or customers based on their sexual orientation.