Friday, April 9, 2010
Kissing against homophobia : Let’s Go Outside, in the sunshine…
We know you want to. But sadly in most places & countries gay people can’t even kiss each other or hold hands in the streets, except on the Gay Pride’s day – if you live close enough to be there.
Worse, even in the most open-minded countries or states regarding LGBT issues (for example, Massachusetts in USA, France, the Netherlands), two guys or two girls holding hands or kissing in the streets still draw stares, frowns, insults, at times even violence. Such display of affection by straight couples, however, is often celebrated. Quite unfair don’t you think?
Fortunately, there’s an easy, peaceful & friendly manner to protest and try to change people’s mind: PUBLIC KISS-INS.
* What’s a kiss-in?
The idea came from a group of French students back in May 2009. The basic principle is the simplest ever: people gather at a predetermined place & time and on whistling signal everyone starts kissing his partner for five minutes. (And now, we guess you totally see why FRENCHIES came out with such an idea!)
The clear objective of this operation is to encourage LGBT girls and boys to uphold their sexual orientation without fear and make homosexual tender gestures part of everyday life for everyone through a peaceful, friendly and informal event, out of the traditional aggressive way of protesting. Straight, gay, lesbian & trans people, couples or singletons, everyone one is invited to these new kind of free-hugs -well, free-kisses- event against homophobia & intolerance.
* How did it all start?
The very first kiss-in took place in Paris in on June 7th 2009 at the Trocadéro. At the time only a dozen couples showed up to Kissed Against Homophobia. Yet they elicited astonishment from passers-by , while earning much friendly support. French gay blogs and web medias wrote about this small but promising initiative and published short interviews with the organizers , making this first installment of the Kiss-In a widely known event in the community.
Soon after Facebook pages emerged to promote the organization of other kiss-ins. The second one took place in Dijon in July 2009, and the third one took place in Les Halles in Paris and in a dozen other French towns in September and the last one took place on December 12th 2009 in more than 20 cities in France, and cities in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and even in Peru ! Now we are bringing it to Harvard!
* How to organize a Kiss-In Event?
The organization process is always the same and goes as follows:
- Creation of Facebook Pages to announce the date & place of the event and help coordinates the organization of the event.
- Volunteer promotion of the event by organizers & participants via LGBT information & community Websites, via their Facebook contacts and buzzing. This aims to bring as many participants as possible and to bring as much media coverage to the event.
- On D-day & T-time, everyone gathers at predetermined place & time and on whistling signal starts kissing his or her partner for five minutes. (You can just hold hands, or just hug each other if you don’t feel comfy with public kissing)
Worse, even in the most open-minded countries or states regarding LGBT issues (for example, Massachusetts in USA, France, the Netherlands), two guys or two girls holding hands or kissing in the streets still draw stares, frowns, insults, at times even violence. Such display of affection by straight couples, however, is often celebrated. Quite unfair don’t you think?
Fortunately, there’s an easy, peaceful & friendly manner to protest and try to change people’s mind: PUBLIC KISS-INS.
* What’s a kiss-in?
The idea came from a group of French students back in May 2009. The basic principle is the simplest ever: people gather at a predetermined place & time and on whistling signal everyone starts kissing his partner for five minutes. (And now, we guess you totally see why FRENCHIES came out with such an idea!)
The clear objective of this operation is to encourage LGBT girls and boys to uphold their sexual orientation without fear and make homosexual tender gestures part of everyday life for everyone through a peaceful, friendly and informal event, out of the traditional aggressive way of protesting. Straight, gay, lesbian & trans people, couples or singletons, everyone one is invited to these new kind of free-hugs -well, free-kisses- event against homophobia & intolerance.
* How did it all start?
The very first kiss-in took place in Paris in on June 7th 2009 at the Trocadéro. At the time only a dozen couples showed up to Kissed Against Homophobia. Yet they elicited astonishment from passers-by , while earning much friendly support. French gay blogs and web medias wrote about this small but promising initiative and published short interviews with the organizers , making this first installment of the Kiss-In a widely known event in the community.
Soon after Facebook pages emerged to promote the organization of other kiss-ins. The second one took place in Dijon in July 2009, and the third one took place in Les Halles in Paris and in a dozen other French towns in September and the last one took place on December 12th 2009 in more than 20 cities in France, and cities in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and even in Peru ! Now we are bringing it to Harvard!
* How to organize a Kiss-In Event?
The organization process is always the same and goes as follows:
- Creation of Facebook Pages to announce the date & place of the event and help coordinates the organization of the event.
- Volunteer promotion of the event by organizers & participants via LGBT information & community Websites, via their Facebook contacts and buzzing. This aims to bring as many participants as possible and to bring as much media coverage to the event.
- On D-day & T-time, everyone gathers at predetermined place & time and on whistling signal starts kissing his or her partner for five minutes. (You can just hold hands, or just hug each other if you don’t feel comfy with public kissing)
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