Countrify

There's Nothing Inappropriate About LGBT People Kissing

by Michael A. Jones 

When the Washington Post published a front page photo of two men kissing last week, the paper set off a rapid chain of outrage among anti-gay forces. Emails and phone calls came in to the paper's Ombudsman, and comments came pouring in to the paper. These anti-gay folks said that the photo should have ran on the inside pages, if it should have even ran at all. "That kind of stuff makes normal people want to throw up," one reader wrote.

Actually, what makes normal people throw up is fostering the type of homophobia that tries to twist a picture of two men or two women kissing into pornography or graphic content. To the Post's credit, they stood up for the photo despite the fact that 27 people canceled their subscriptions to the paper.

"Did the Post go too far? Of course not. The photo deserved to be in newspaper and on its Web site, and it warranted front-page display," wrote the Post's Andy Alexander.

Damn right. Losing 27 subscribers (heck, losing 270 subscribers) isn't worth denigrating same-sex relationships, or the dignity of same-sex couples. And the comments shared by folks complaining about the photo certainly says far more about them then it does people who support the right of gay couples to get married in Washington, D.C.

If you check out Alexander's column at the Post, you'll get a visceral description of some of the comments that readers sent in regarding the photo of two men kissing.

One man said he'd cancel his subscription "if I see another photo of men lip-locking."

Another caller said that the Washington Post was “promoting a faggot lifestyle.”

And yet another reader sent in a comment, "I would appreciate it if your cover pictures would not be so disturbing where my kids can see it easily on the kitchen table ... please don’t shove this 'Gay' business in our face."

Well, hey, at least she capitalized the word "Gay." That shows some level of dignity, right? Even if her kids are being raised to think that two people kissing can only be an expression of love if they're opposite genders. Here's hoping the apples fall very far from the tree in this case.

Last year two men were detained by police in Salt Lake City for kissing in public. In Brooklyn a few years back, a man was beaten to death for holding hands with his brother, simply because his assailants thought he was acting gay. In Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts -- which is one of the most LGBT-friendly places in the entire state of Massachusetts -- two women were attacked on New Year's Eve after a man saw them kiss and hold hands.

There was nothing inappropriate done by the victims in any of these cases, just like there's nothing inappropriate about the Washington Post running a front-page photo with two men kissing. But the violence that lies at the heart of all of these incidents is very, very real.

That woman who called the Post and blasted them for exposing her kids to this "Gay" business? She may not have been carrying a baseball bat, but her words create the culture for hate. That man who said the Post was "promoting a faggot lifestyle"? He may not have wielded a knife, but his ideology is what leads to the violence described above.

Kudos to the Washington Post on this one. Photos like the one they ran change hearts and minds. Comments like the ones they list from their readers, however, simply promote violence and hate.