London's 'gay kiss-in'

The video: A London pub is at the center of a gay-rights controversy after two men were booted for kissing. Last Wednesday, James Bull and Jonathan Williams were on their first date at the John Snow in Soho, when a staff member reportedly said their kissing was "obscene," and asked them to leave. Outraged, the couple turned to Facebook and staged a "gay kiss-in" at the John Snow, but the bar shut its doors early to thwart protesters, and Facebook has since removed the event from its site. Instead of backing down, more than 300 people gathered on the pub's front steps on Friday and locked lips in defiance. (Watch a news report about the event below.) ''It's fantastic so many people actually came,'' Williams said. He and Bull have scheduled a second date, but it probably won't be at the John Snow.

The reaction: "This is a pub in Soho, which has its own community of gay people, and the fact [that the bar owners] have made no apology is outrageous," says protester Steve Erskine, as quoted by The Independent. And how infuriating, not to mention cowardly, that "the sight of two fully-clothed men kissing was too much for Facebook," says Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds. Hey, I'm all for equality, but public displays of affection really are annoying for customers, said Alex Marshall, as quoted by The Daily Mail. "Sitting in a pub seeing some happy couple kissing will sometimes depress me all evening." See a news report on the mini-scandal:

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