Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

The Great Toronto Kiss In!


By Maurice Ali, Journalist





The end of January marks a return to protests as it also marks the return to parliament for our politicians. This time, the event to start the new season was a protest against affection shown by the gay members of our society.



On Friday, January 21st at about 4:15 p.m., two lesbians who were walking hand in hand at the Mont-Royal in Montreal, were stopped at a street corner. Just before the light changed they decided to steal a quick kiss before crossing the street, and from out of nowhere someone smashed the back of one of their heads leaving both girls in a state of shock. One was left with a bloody forehead and a painful bump while the other received a broken nose. This was another incident of "Gay bashing". The protest/gathering at the north east corner of Yonge and Bloor in Toronto on the 29th of January, was a reaction to this event.



Many turned out to this rally and we members of the press waited patiently for all this lesbian kissing to start happening. There were some big outfits from the press corps on hand as an unique event like with was perfect for another quiet Saturday.



We waited and waited for the lesbian kissing to occur..... but very little. We also waited for a speech from one of the organizers but that did not happen during the twenty minutes that I was there.



I did get an impromptu interview with on of the participants who eventually kissed at the kiss in. She mentioned that she was herself a victim of "gay bashing" just a few weeks ago. The event, therefore, had much more meaning to her as opposed to the many who gathered just to see women kissing



Others begun to give the impatient press corps an opportunity to see some kissing.



Eventually we actually did get what seemed to be a "kiss in", but it appears that even Toronto is quite a conservative town.....




One interesting couple I ran across decided to show me a kiss; they were two gay men. After posing for my camera, I introduced myself as a member of the press and requested an interview. These two men immediately clammed up and stated that they really did not want the world to know their names and such as they attended this event.



Interesting to see the support but not the overt support one might have thought in this rather emotionally charged atmosphere. It seems that the fear of being gay is still a very real problem even in a place like Toronto which has one of the largest gay populations in the world and with some of the most progressive gay laws on the books. It would appear that this group's struggle is far from over.


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