Tag Archives: Kissing Protest

Lesbian Couple Humiliated For Kissing Goodbeye In Paris, Fight For An Apology

We’d like to think LQBT rights are making great strides. However, there are still instances that remind us how much more work needs to be done.

The most recent of these happened in Paris, where a lesbian couple was humiliated for kissing at a train station.

According to reports, the couple was embracing and saying farewell when a train guard began yelling. The yelling went on for several minutes, and the guard told the couple that their actions “cannot be tolerated”.

The angry, homophobic guard also told the couple that it would have been okay for a straight couple to kiss.

One of the women on the receiving end of the homophobic rant, was Mirjam from Amsterdam, who is a member of the organisation All Out.

Writing on the All Out site, she said

“Imagine it. You spent the weekend with your partner in Paris. You say goodbye on the train platform with a hug and a kiss. It’ll be a while until you see each other again. Then an angry train official strides over to stop you kissing – he says it ‘can’t be tolerated’. Humiliating. My girlfriend and I can’t believe that a Thalys official picked on us just because we’re not a straight couple.”

Later, she told Le Nouvel Observateur magazine:

“I couldn’t believe someone was telling me what I could and couldn’t do. I was also shocked because he wouldn’t stop talking, from our arrival on the platform around 8am until the train left 15 minutes later. He certainly spoiled our au revoirs.”

Mirjam, along with All Out, is calling for Thalys International, the European train company that owns and operates the station to act. She has asked LGBTs and supporters of gay rights to sign a petition “to denounce this anti-gay customer service – and train staff to treat everyone the same, whether lesbian, gay, bi or straight.”

In 2013, Thalys launched an advertising campaign showing couples, including a same-sex couple, embracing, having been reunited by Thalys trains. However, just because a brand has LGBTQ ads, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are LGBTQ friendly.

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“Just like us! But in reality, they didn’t let me kiss my girlfriend on the platform. And they’re staying silent after one of their staff went on an anti-gay rant. This isn’t just about this one person’s anti-gay rant, it’s about pushing the company to turn their marketing messages into action and ensure they treat everyone fairly.”

Mirjam reached out to the corporate offices of Thalys International, but did not receive a response until yesterday, when her petition had reached 60,000 signatures.

Because of Mirjam’s actions, the company will now have equality trainings and use her experience to make agents more aware. Still, it’s upsetting that Mirjam had to make this much of an uproar to get a response to her poor treatment.

Punished For A Kiss | Russian Police Raid Lesbian Nightclub Owned By The Woman Who Kissed Her Girlfriend In Selfie

Being a lesbian is dangerous business in Russia, but it’s especially risky when you do it in front of the country’s leading opponent of LGBT rights.

This week, the lesbian nightclub Infinity was raided by Russian police, for illegally allowing under-age people to enter, and allowing the sale of illegal drugs.

More: Isabella Moore Documents Russia’s War On Homosexuality

On February 1, club owner Kseniya Infinity, and several of her friends were flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, when they spotted Vitaly Milonov, a lawmaker famous for initiating Russia’s crackdown on LGBT rights. In protest, the women photographed themselves kissing one another in front of Milonov, and later posted the images online, where they became a viral sensation.

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After the picture went viral, Senator Milanov said:

“This shows that these people are not of a normal sexual orientation, but that their sexual deviance shows in all aspects of their lives. I didn’t understand what they are doing but they have a nice sense of humour.

I also have a good sense of humour. I will perhaps continue this joke by closing their gay club in St. Petersburg, or ban them from having meetings in public places, that’s also a funny step.”

An anti-gay online community based in Moscow and St. Petersburg published a call to get Infinity closed down. The group posted instructions and a scripted complaint to be sent to the district attorney, demanding that police shut down the lesbian nightclub.

Community members were also encouraged to appeal to Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state-run media watchdog, and federal anti-drug agents, based on claims that Infinity opens its doors to minors and operates as a center for illegal drug use.

Those who wanted the nightclub shut down were instructed to convey their concerns to police. “I have every reason to believe,” the scripted complaint reads, “that the promotional activities carried out at the lesbian club Infinity pose a serious threat to the physical and mental health of minors who manage to enter the establishment.”

The anti-gay group makes no secret of why it targeted club Infinity, citing the kissing selfies incident with Milonov on the airplane.

The Lesbian Kissing Protest Against Russia’s Anti Gay Lawmaker Goes Viral

A lesbian couple who found themselves seated on a domestic flight from Moscow to St Petersburg, near the Russian anti-LGBT politician, Vitaly Milonov, staged a fantastic loving protest in front of him.

The pair posed for a selfie while kissing in front of the extremely homophobic Senator, who was seated on the row behind them. The photos were then uploaded to social media site, and have since gone viral in Russia and started to spread around the globe

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Milonov confirmed the authenticity of the photo, telling FlashNord:

“These crazy idiots were so brave that after taking the photo they ran to the end of the plane, sat there and didn’t even stick their necks out until the end of the flight.”

Vitaly Milonov

The loving protest has infuriated the St. Petersburg city councilman, who later called the women ‘animals’ and threatened to ‘call the Cossacks’ on them.

Vitaly Milonov is well-known for his discriminating anti-LGBT stance. In December last year he staged a raid on a St Petersburg gay club where he entered the venue with riot police and arrested anyone under 18.

Following last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which he branded a ‘Europe-wide gay parade’, Milonov tweeted that Russia should boycott the ‘Sodom show’.

Milonov co-sponsored Russia’s controversial ‘gay propaganda’ law bans displays of ‘non-traditional sexual behaviour’ in public or in front of under-18s, which was signed in to law the same year by President Vladimir Putin. The law allows the government to detain ‘homosexual or sympathetic foreigners’ for up to 14 days, after which they could face expulsion from the country.

He is also currently bringing forward legislation that would close a ‘loophole’ in the country’s laws which allowed a lesbian couple to marry.

In 2013, Milanov said that gay people were not “normal” and compared being gay to living “with a dog, with a horse, with a sheep, whatever.”.

Brazilians Stage Kissing Protest After Bar Kicks Out Lesbian Couple For Embracing In Public

Protesters have taken to the street in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, with a kissing protest against homophobic treatment of two women.

About 50 Brazilian protesters responded with kisses on Sunday at a bar that had kicked out a presumed lesbian couple for embracing in public. The management of the bar in the town of Ribeirao Preto said in a statement the women, ages 22 and 23, had been shown the door a week ago for “inappropriate behaviour.”

The women immediately filed a complaint with the police and a Brazilian lawyers’ association commission against homophobia.

At Sunday’s protests, youths carried signs denouncing homophobia and engaged in a “beijaco,” or collective kissing, as police looked on.

A bill to punish homophobia has been sidelined for years in the Brazilian Congress by resistance from Catholics and Protestant Evangelicals.

In 2011, however, the Supreme Court guaranteed same-sex couples in stable unions the same rights as heterosexual couples.