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Loading ...Gay men kicked out of El Paso restaurant for kissing
07.08.2009 10:30am EDT
(El Paso) A group of gay men were kicked out of a Chico’s Tacos restaurant in El Paso, Texas because two of the men were kissing, the El Paso Times reports.
The group of men called police to lodge an anti-discrimination complaint after a guard at the restaurant told them to leave. Police spokesman Javier Sambrano said that the officer dispatched to the scene sided with the restaurant and did not file a report about the incident.“It was a relatively new officer,” Sambrano said.
Do they also kick out heterosexuals for kissing? Why is it “flaunting it” and “forcing ourselves on others” when LGBT people kiss or display pictures of the people they love, but “traditional values” for heterosexuals to do likewise?
Um…wake up and smell the coffee, folks.
What the HELL are ANY gay people doing in El Paso?!?!?!?
Vote with your feet and get the hell out of there.
That simple.
Likewise, if it had been two women kissing, I doubt they would’ve been kicked out, either.
The lesson here for us in big cities up North and on the Coasts is that discrimination like this still takes place and legislation like ENDA matter!
It is items like these that need to be publicized. A gay sit in may work to ensure that the national media portrays this as a rights issue and more people start understanding that it is normal to be gay. Gay men kissing at different restraurants throughout the country on a certain day would certainly galvanize the media and hopefully move people to side with our rights.
This story has omitted important information. There’s kissing and then there’s “please get a room” type kissing. We don’t have any of the details necessary to render a decision on the appropriateness of the restaurant’s response.
Clearly this restaurant needs some guerilla love’in. All gays should go there now and just start making out all over the place. No violence, just heavy petting! When I see some breeder couple where the guy looks like he’s just basically devouring some woman’s face, I will say something everytime. This is one of the reasons I am jealous of reclusive people they can shelter themselves from disgusting heteros.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12784517?source=email
Hopefully this address will give more information about what happened.
But I will tell you that it was TWO RENT-A-COPS (security guards) that tried to kick them out of the store. They were telling them that it was against the law to be kissing in public. The law does include sexual orientation in it anti-discrimination. So the rent-a-cops were wrong. It was these wana-be-cops that basically started it all after they said that they got some complaints. All this trouble for what basically was a quick peck of a kiss.
I just think that a nice little BOYCOTT of that store would do wonders for the security guard company and the store itself.
Ive had something similar to this happen to me when i was at a gas station with my partner and she kissed my cheek. unfortantly back then i wasnt aware of gay rights. hearing stories like this sickens me. why dont we have our own gay version of jessie jackson to go down to el paso and protest bringing this to the mainstream eye of the media? is this what we have turned into, a community that is so used to injustice that we just shake our heads and sigh?
… this is truly sad.
I must respectfully disagree with Sarrellec’s suggestion that LGBT people should just get out of El Paso (or insert any number of other places in the U.S. and the world).
I don’t want the kind of “freedom” or “equality” where I am safe and comfortable only in some more cosmopolitan cities. We must strive for a world in which we are safe and are treated equally everywhere. We should have the right to live wherever we choose, and sometimes it takes incidents like this (and our response to it) to advance the cause.
I disagree with Truth Seeker. If the people had been heterosexual, no matter how they were kissing, they wouldn’t have been asked to leave. I’ve seen heterosexuals get by with more than that in public, in restaurants, on the Promenade, etc. This is obviously discrimination.
Only cities with a high concentration of ignorant people like el paso would choose to remain homophobic and keep disrespecting people they don’t even know for things that don’t even concern them. Grow up el paso, Get educated!
Homophobia is alive and well in TEXAS!
I agree that the security at the restaurant definitely overstepped themselves. This was definitely discrimination. You’re right–I don’t believe that if this had been a straight couple anything would have been said at all.
Why are we so quick to jump down the throat of the entire city of El Paso. Reading the article, it says that there was one complaint (on the word of the security firm…questionable). This was the action and prejudice of the security guards and the officer responding to the call, not the action of the entire city.
Do a websearch. You will see that El Paso has a community center, a pride celebration, etc. Did you notice that the city has non-discrimination ordinance?
By jumping to the extreme, you give the opposition live ammo. They can look at us and say, “See what we told. Those gay activists are nothing evil, intolerant, hateful people.”
Let’s place the blame/responsibility where it belongs. Paint with a brush the right size, not just throwing the pail on anything and everything standing nearby.
Sarrellec – I agree – Move to Massachusetts!!!