Gus Kenworthy’s Quick Olympic Kiss Is Actually A Really Big Deal

20 months ago, on a Sunday morning more or less like today, I woke up to a phone call from HuffPost’s National Editor informing me that a lone shooter at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, murdered 49 people, most of them queer people of color.

A few hours later, during the desperate hunt for a motive that follows every seemingly senseless atrocity like the one that unfolded in those early June hours, the assailant’s father told reporters that his was son “very angry” at the sight of two men kissing weeks before the shooting, saying that could have been a part of his son’s motive.

Heartbroken, enraged and looking for some way to process what had happened, I wrote a piece arguing that despite the victories the LGBTQ community had secured in recent years, a gay kiss ― even in 2016 ― was still considered a stunning, terrifying sight for too many people. I also argued that it was, in light of that devastatingly sobering fact, absolutely imperative for queer people to continue kissing whenever and wherever they could.

Others felt similarly, and HuffPost Queer Voices launched a #KeepKissing hashtag on social media that soon included thousands of queer and non-queer people proudly kissing same-gender partners, friends, coworkers and even strangers. The campaign sent a message to both allies and enemies that this simple, beautiful demonstration of love may still be considered disgusting by too many people ― and was therefore still a risky public act ― but, despite the very real and possibly dangerous consequences that could follow even the most innocent of displays of affection, we would not be ashamed; we would be paralyzed by our fear and we would not stop kissing.

Source: huffingtonpost