The Great Nationwide Kiss-In

categories: LGBT Rights and Politics, Stonewall 20

Published July 27, 2009 @ 07:18AM PT

Mike and Joe

After launching a little more than a week ago, The Great Nationwide Kiss-In (a campaign organized by David Badash, David Mailloux and Willow Witte) has gone viral, spreading to more than 25 cities and more than 1,200 members on Facebook. The campaign is simple: in response to a recent wave of incidents where police or law enforcement officers harassed or arrested LGBT people for kissing, folks are coming together across the country with their loved ones, friends, etc., to show that kissing is not illegal. Rather, it's an expression of love and affection that never merits criminalization.

The group has launched a video today that shows just how powerful a simple kiss can be. Straight, gay, black, white, young, old...it doesn't matter. Everyone can participate in this nationwide campaign. The details? August 15, 2009, at 2:00pm EST. See if your city is hosting a "Great Nationwide Kiss-In Event" here, and if they're not, please consider starting one. Details on how to start one (which means being provided with some excellent resources from campaign organizers) can be found on the group's Facebook page.

Lastly...that picture up there? Well, it's me and my partner, Joe. I don't usually like to get all personal on the blog, but well, a great nationwide kiss-in event certainly deserves it. (Excuse the blurriness!) Enjoy the video below. It should make you feel all warm and fuzzy, like there's a lot of love in this world.

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Comments (7)

Since police officers in El Paso and Salt Lake City acted on their basis of intolerance for arresting two LGBT couples for kissing, the Great Nationwide Kiss-In will be worth its purpose. It's good that more than 25 United States cities will host the important to combat the oppression LGBT people sometimes face when kissing. With the outcome of the event, every single police jurisdiction must treat LGBT people with equality.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 07/27/2009 @ 02:03PM PT
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Indeed...P.D.A.'s should never be criminalised as long as their G-rated and kissing is exactly that.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 07/27/2009 @ 03:05PM PT
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Mike, you and Joseph are SOOOOOO cute together! Great picture!

Posted by Dave Hershey on 07/27/2009 @ 03:47PM PT
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Thanks, Dave! I appreciate the comment!

Posted by Michael Jones on 07/28/2009 @ 06:37AM PT
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Hmm... I would, I guess. But I would only kiss someone special, and there's no one. I used to be opposed to this as I didn't see the point, didn't want to kiss a random person, and didn't care for PDA, but that video kind of changes my mind. I'm still not sure there'd be a point for me to do it personally the way that my campus did it... I figure, if you're going to PDA, it might as well be in an ordinary place in an ordinary way.

Posted by Luella - on 07/29/2009 @ 08:53PM PT
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In theory, police enforce the law and investigate crimes. In fact, police have a tendency to enforce their own principles of morality rather than the law. Of course, in many instances the two are similar, so it is usually disguised. It works in both directions; ignoring crimes because they don't see anything wrong with it (smoking pot at a concert, video poker machines paying off in a bar); or, trying to stop legal behavior they consider wrong (same sex couples kissing).

I remember many years ago in Pittsburgh the police used to arrest transvestites on the street and then be really confused when they got them back to the station and were told by their superiors that no law had been broken.

Posted by Lance Barclay on 08/02/2009 @ 12:00PM PT
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Hey, Mike! There's going to be a kiss-in that weekend in Pittsburgh after all. :-) Ask Jeremy (Good As You dot org) for more information. :-)

Posted by David Mailloux on 08/07/2009 @ 03:52PM PT
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Author

Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.