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Kissing Just For Protest
The sound of lips smacking echoed through downtown on Saturday afternoon when dozens of women participated in Toronto’s first Kiss-In since 1976. To show support for two Montreal women attacked for kissing each other in public, female kissers of Toronto flooded the streets with a smooching protest.
The women, Joelle Perras and Brook Morrison, were assaulted in Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal district when they stopped to kiss on the corner. Following news of the Jan. 21 incident, kissing demonstrations were planned in both Montreal and Toronto (‘demonstrations’ meaning ‘protests’ in this case). In Toronto, women gathered at Yonge and Bloor to play tonsil hockey, denounce gay-bashing and show support for same-sex marriage legislation. Toronto’s last Kiss-In was held at the same location almost 25 years ago, when two men faced similar discrimination.
The protest also yielded some interesting debate as to whether kissing in public even has a place in the 21st century. Some feel that public kissing – be it heterosexual, homosexual or polygamous – is totally gross.