Kissing Is In

by on

This seems to be the year of the Gay Kiss. Kiss-ins are taking place from Salt Lake City to El Paso to Paris (and not the one in Texas -- the one in France).

Talk about the personal being political. This is the most delightful possible response to the sourpusses who are trying -- today -- to deny us a peck on the cheek (the horror that set the LDS church's hair on fire) or a smooch to smooth out the spice from good Mexican food. The El Paso police were apparently ready to arrest people, and the Police Chief had to issue a public statement letting everyone in on the news that gay kissing isn't against any known law, even in Texas.

We may or may not have Katy Perry to thank for this, but I can't think of anything that more wonderfully illustrates how far we've come, and how far other people haven't since the 1950s.

6 Comments for “Kissing Is In”

  1. posted by Bobby on

    I don’t know if kiss-ins are a good idea, they seem very provocative, like you’re asking people to get angry at you. I’d rather see PDA’s on TV and the movies than in real life.

  2. posted by Frankster on

    Yeah but with today’s technology people can block access to channels with adult content. Out in public its reality and hard to miss.

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  4. posted by Bobby on

    All I know is that interracial couples didn’t legalize interracial marriage by making out in public.

    I’m glad we have more freedom today, but do we really have to expose ourselves to danger and condemnation by kissing the same-sex in public places that are mostly straight? Do we have to be so provocative?

    Kissing in public doesn’t make us look like a bunch of monogamous couples looking to get married but it does make us look like a bunch of horndog exhibitionist perverts. It’s mostly a PR disaster although I do suppose that eventually people stop being shocked by it. But frankly, I’d rather win my arguments without using shock tactics.

  5. posted by David Link on

    Bobby, what I like best about your wording is its acceptance of the underlying absurdity — that kissing is “provocative, even amounting to “shock tactics.” If that’s all it takes to put us in “danger” of . . . well, I’m not sure what, exactly, don’t you think anyone who acted on it would be treated with the same head-shaking from the general public that the El Paso cops are getting now?

    What *is* the proper response to two people kissing in public? To me, anything less benign than “Aw, isn’t that sweet,” makes that person look like an old fogey, or whatever the kids are calling old fogeys these days. You can see how the LDS folks and the El Paso folks are backtracking from their overresponses, trying to find some less ridiculous explanation of what happened. And that is delightful, I think. The kiss-ins show that, even if they don’t like same-sex couples kissing in public, they really can’t complain about that any longer.

    If kissing is provocative, it’s the sweetest provocation I can think of. I’m happy to discuss with anyone who objects why they object.

  6. posted by Bobby on

    David, homophobia exists at different levels. Say John Doe and Mary Doe have two kids, they rarely care about gay rights and aren’t involved. Then they see a bunch of gays swapping spit in the public square, how do you think they’re going to feel? Chances are they will think “gee, X Televangelist was right, homosexuals are really getting out of control, I’d better make a donation fast.”

    It’s like the scene where Bruno starts kissing the guy his fighting in the WWF type of event. Bruno’s actions gave homophobia a wake up call, suddenly all those people who came to see two guys beat the crap out of each other had to put up with two guys making out.

    Can you explain to me how does kissing in public help gay rights?

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