I got an email from a reporter last week. Lovely woman. Her name is Becky Bruce and she works for Salt Lake City’s WKSL radio. We arranged a telephone interview and she asked me a few questions about the Kiss-In. She recorded it and told me the story would air today. It did.
Perhaps ignorantly, I assumed there would be support from some folks in Salt Lake City for the Kiss-In. Becky was sweet. She did a fair story. But the comments on the story she wrote? Wow. Scary. Not all of them, but the vast majority. It’s no wonder a same-sex couple was arrested for kissing in Salt Lake City.
The comments, all 300+ in just a few hours, reminded me today of why we’re doing the Kiss-In in the first place. We’re fighting homophobia. I don’t think that goal actually crept into my head until recently. When I created The Great Nationwide Kiss-In!, it was just to take action, to try to get people to see that gay or straight, “a kiss is just a kiss.” And that, gay or straight, it wouldn’t matter, if folks could just see us as “normal” folks, like themselves.
I still believe that. But now, I realize, there’s more at stake for us. There’s a larger goal, a larger statement we are making: We’re saying it’s OK to be who you are, and we’re saying we don’t have to hide, and we’re saying, affirming, that gay or straight, everyone has the same rights.
Do me, and yourself a favor. Take a look at some of the comments coming from of Salt Lake City’s WKSL’s listeners and readers. See the blatent, unabashed, unbridled hatred and homophobia. And then, hold on to that feeling, and get in touch with everyone you know. Tell them what you learned. Get them to be a part of The Great Nationwide Kiss-In! You’ll have done something wonderful. You’ll have taken aim against homophobia. You’ll have strengthened the cause for equality, and for love. And you’ll have done all this, by sharing the knowledge that, yes, a kiss is just a kiss.
How’s it going? Well, in a word, amazing! In just two weeks we’ve got Kiss-Ins planned in way more than two dozen cities. Big cities, medium cities, small cities. East Coast, West Coast, the South, the North. Every day we get folks asking if they can hold a Kiss-In in their town. We hope you’re one of those folks!
Please, if you haven’t already, visit us at GreatNationwideKissIn.com. Sign up. Volunteer. Help us out. We really need you. And you know what? Maybe, just maybe, you need us too.
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People r people! Seriously wtf is in their minds? They shud b worried abt sex offenders and sarah palin running for president, not about people who are the same sex showing displays of public affection!URgh!It makes me so angry!
Ugh, those people make me sick. I would have made an account to make a comment, but I didn't want to waste my time. Seriously though… even if they're religious (hell, I'm a Catholic), this is NOT a theocratic nation. And homophobes… really make me sick to my stomach. If situations were reversed and they were the ones who fell in love with a person of their own gender, they would be singing different tunes.
I'm reading the comments now and they are mind boggling but not all that surprising coming from such a closed mind group. I was reading all the related articles in the Salt Lake City Tribune, I think that was the name of the paper, to the Salt Lake City incident. It is like if the CHURCH said they were being lewd and grouping then poof immediately that is what happened! Like a switch flipping on and the robot takes over, <beep, Turn off mind and repeat our after me> "The CHURCH said it it happened like that and I believe it happened like they said it did!" <beep, repeat every time there is a challenge to what really happened>. I've heard, seen crap like this from other demon-ominations.
Hopefully I can find some other Phoenix folks and we can get a kiss-in going here.
I can't believe the comments. These are actual people from the human race saying these things? How sad and sick are they?
This concept of making it visual – people actually seeing lgbt affection (unashamed) is going to generate backlash. People who aren't used to being aroung lgbt people often are physically and mentally repulsed by just the thought of it (Public Displays of Affection). It is a very powerful concept, and we have needed this for a long time.
The country needs to see more openly queer people holding hands and kissing without shame, just as heterosexuals hold hands and kiss in public every day without comment or commotion. This is a great idea and a great thing to do (the kissin). It is extremely powerful already, as you can see.
It is also important to realize that there will be backlash and to remember to be as safe as possible, which means different things in different areas.
On the bright side, it makes me feel better about the 100% negative and immature responses I got to my letter to the editor about veganism. It's like mainstream newspapers belong to the immature folks, while blogs are where the mature people lie. Why is that? I go to blogs and occasionally they get hit with a slew of negative responses, but for the most part the responses are from people who actually care about the issue. Anyway, when you're the only one supporting an issue, it feels pretty degrading and does something to your self-esteem… at least it does to mine. And I'm usually the only one when it comes to veganism…. but seeing that there are still large cities in this country where the homophobia is the only thing speaking up makes me realize that it's not just veganism that's got a long way to go. I used to live in Texas, but I'm a little oblivious sometimes living in D.C.
To their credit, the moderators at KSL.com have begun to delete some of the more egregious comments posted under that story. To my mind, it's further proof of the importance of what the Nat'l Kiss-In is seeking to accomplish.
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