The original report from Yagg is in French, so the website’s Maxime translates the events: “It was originally supposed to take place in front of Notre Dame de Paris but Christian fundamentalist websites called in to ‘defend their faith against this provocation’ by ‘AIDS bags’, ‘sodomites’ and other homophobic insults. The websites called in for a violent answer so the organizers decided to change the location to place Saint Michel in the nearby Latin Quarter, since the police strongly encouraged them to do so saying they could not protect them in case of trouble. The kiss in was held peacefully at st-michel but some gays went to Notre Dame anyway and witnesses are saying 200 Christian activists were expecting them, and after they started kissing, they were attacked with motorbike helmets and kicked.” Ugh. We want video of this crap.
Here’s some closer-up video of French persons French kissing:
And don’t miss Peru’s own public staging.
romeo
Spent time in France, mostly Paris. Those 200 fundamentalists must be either foreigners or the entire France-wide population of “Christian fundamentalists.” LOL
gaynewsfromgreece
You can see the video of the confrontation between catholic reactionaries and gay couples outside Notre Dame here:
http://www.gayclic.com/articles/un_kiss-in_a_notre-dame_tourne_a_l_affrontement_video_.html#commentaires
The catholic mob is shouting “Habemus papam”, i.e. “We have the pope” in latin.
Lukas P.
Bisous! The Kiss-in at Place St Michel with about 30 couples was itself peaceful. The police did break up the attacks over in front of Notre Dame, dispersing the crowd. The protesters were reportedly made up of funamentalist Catholics and people who appeared to be “skinheads.”
Other kiss-ins were planned in other cities but I’ve not yet heard of other incidents via Twitter or newsfeeds.
Remember that Paris has a gay mayor! He has yet to officially comment.
Dingo
I would not have thought France would have had any Christian Fundamentalists. Is no place safe from them?
BiM
@gaynewsfromgreece:
and “Cassez-vous !” -> Get the f**** out of here
and “Faites ça chez vous!” -> Do that in private
direct link -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERG-r7i1lT4&feature=player_embedded
schlukitz
So much for toujours l’amour
Wiggler
i love it.
sal(the original)
@gaynewsfromgreece: the camera is in the crowd with the homophobes or gays?the lady with glasses,curly hair what is she sayin?
Noelley B
So is it just Catholics who are opposed?
schlukitz
How beautiful. LGBT eople proudly showing their affection for those they love.
Those who would protest this, could learn a lot about love if they felt similarly inclined or allowed themselves to kiss someone.
Lukas P.
@Noelley B: Based on what YAGG commentators reported, the protesters were “fundamentalist” Catholics and “skinheads” were there. The French skin movement was quick to differentiate between the apolitical, non-racist, non-religious skins and their homophobic “bonehead” counterparts. That’s a distinction I don’t know enough about to comment on !
The French RCs seem likewise to want to distance themselves from the violence that ensued, blaming the breakaway movement of “old”/”traditional” non-card-carrying Catholics whose base is not recognised by the Pope, the Church, and which has few supporters in Paris.
The accents I heard in the videos linked here were NOT Parisian, but I couldn’t hear the audio too well.
Lukas P.
@schlukitz: I am SO planning on a “kiss-in” Monday 9 p.m. ish at O’Hare Airport when my guy gets back into town! He’s been gone too long! Eleven days, not that I’m counting!
@Noelly: p.s. I’m not Catholic, just francophone. I reports ’em like I reads ’em!
hephaestion
We should ALL kiss our loved ones openly and freely wherever we are… in Baton Rouge or Oshkosh. The more we claim our right to exist openly, the more we will become first class citizens.
BiM
@sal(the original):
Extremist’s side 🙂
She’s saying “Habemus Papam” (the announcement given in Latin by the senior Cardinal Deacon upon the election of a new pope, meaning “We have a \new\ pope”), “Do that in private”, “Get the f**** out of here”.
~~
romeo
Catholic doctrine, or any religious doctrine, does not have much power in Europe, and I would say that’s particularly true in France. This was not a big movement with a wide base. Just desperation at their irrelevance.
GayGOP
The accents I heard were Eastern, as in the portion of France that LePen, the far right-winger, won in the last few elections.
sal(the original)
@BiM: ohhh,thanks a bunch 🙂
Dasher
The photo the Huffington Post used to reference the Paris kiss-in was hot. The two gay guys who were kissing in that photo could be the nicest looking boys in France — or anywhere else.
No wonder teenage girls in the U.S. today have wicked crushes on young gay guys. Some of them are awesomely handsome.
On photos to illustrate the Paris kiss-in, it’s a no-brainer: my vote goes to the Huffington Post.
schlukitz
No. 12 · Lukas P.
Sounds like a plan. ;P