At least two Chicago-area locations will be the sites of kiss-ins that are part of an Aug. 15 nationwide movement.
Recently, two men were arrested for allegedly kissing in Salt Lake City’s Mormon-owned Main Street Plaza. There also was an incident in El Paso, Texas, where several gay men were kicked out of Chico’s Tacos after two of them kissed.
According to the Facebook page “The Great Nationwide Kiss-In,” David Badash and David Mailloux—two of the event’s coordinators—stated that they “believe that any person anywhere should be able to kiss whomever they want, whenever they want.”
Local kiss-ins will take place at 1 p.m. at Millennium Park’s “Cloud Gate” sculpture (more commonly known as “The Bean”), east of Michigan on Randolph. Another will happen in Oak Park at Scoville Park, at the northwest corner of Oak Park and Lake.
Join the Impact-Chicago (contact: Nik@JoinTheImpactChicago.com) is sponsoring the Millennium Park event; the Facebook page is www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111579388358&ref=mf. The contact for the Oak Park kiss-in is Kathleen Carrillo (kattcarrillo@yahoo.com) ; the Facebook page is www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115130357898.