Hundreds stage ‘kiss-in’ protest outside London pub where gay couple ejected

Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the locked doors of a London pub Friday evening to to attended a ‘kiss-in’ protest after a gay couple claimed they were thrown out for kissing.

The John Snow, in Soho, central London, became the focus of unwanted attention when James Bull and Jonathan Williams were asked to leave on Wednesday night by a staff member who allegedly described the couple’s kissing as “obscene”.

This was my experience upon first meeting James Bull last Wednesday. Enjoying each other’s company in the John Snow pub in London’s Soho, we kissed. However, someone claiming to be the landlord asked us to stop and after polite words were exchanged, we went back to talking.

The rest of the evening went well, until we were asked to leave by the landlady; she said our kissing was bothering other customers. We eventually left the pub, after being advised by a plainclothes police officer that it was within the landlady’s rights to ask us to do so. I was shaking with rage.

– Jonathan Williams, via the Guardian

Williams tweeted about the incident, which led to plans for the “gay kiss-in” event, organized on Facebook.

About 300 people attended the demonstration, which was to take place inside the pub, but its doors were closed after news of the protest broke. Another “kiss-in” is planned for April 21.