El Paso Times:
EL PASO -- Two gay men kissed at a Chico's Tacos restaurant, prompting guards to eject them and a police officer to endorse their ouster.
Civil-rights lawyers say the security staff was out of line. Police, though, contend that a business such as a restaurant can refuse service to anybody, any time.
Deborah Calla: The Magic Of Kissing
I was getting my nails done when I saw a couple kissing across the street. As I knew I was going to be hostage to...
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"Everywhere people stare
Each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And i hear them say
Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away
How could i even try
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state i'm in
How could she say to me
Love will find a way
Gather round all you clowns
Let me hear you say
Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away"
(Lennon/McCartney)
The police didnt even know the law in this situation. In El Paso it is illegal for businesses open to the public to discriminate against homosexuals and the homosexual conduct law the officers cited have been unconstitutional for close to 7 years. Someone needs to update the law books... have people been arrested for homosexual conduct since 2003?????? Crazy.
I Corinthians 16:20 - All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.
Oh dear... don't be quoted the bible in a positive light or the crazy christians will go nuts!
BTW.... didn't Bush hold hands with a Saudi sheik? Better be careful in the future or he might get kicked out of...... Texas. (we can only hope)
Bush kissed the sheik but in a manly hetro way or something.
Yes, holding hands:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/bush_hand_holding.jpg
trees are calling, adios amigos...
Love ya, mean it! Have a great day!
Ta ta! Have a good weekend. Go ape, monkey around, go bananas and any other pun.
Beelzebufo is clearly one enchilada short of the combination platter and need to spend more time in therapy.
The fact of the matter is that in 2003 the El Paso City Council successfully passed a resolution which outrightly bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
If straight couples can show affection and give a simple kiss on the lips in public, then gay couples are allowed the same. If gay couples are kicked out of the p)ublic establishment, then it is legally called DISCRIMINATION in El Paso.
Homos, be proud! Kiss your loved one in public every time you see a straight couple do so.
Fanned!
Beelzebufo is just another closeted person so full of self-hat.e and denial that they think by threatening vio.lene on all gays they will be free of their "curse." Duh! It's painfully obvious from their posts.
Even more frightening is that she/he/it teaches children (according to it's profile) and re-enacts civil war battles.
Yikes!
Ignorant as it is ... private business their choice to service whom they want
Chico's is not a private business. It's a public one that must follow local laws. A members only club would be an example of a private business.
WRONG, flunkie.
In 2003, the El Paso City Council successfully passed a resolution which outrightly bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
No. You cannot put out a sign saying "No Irish allowed". How is this different? Do they also eject straight couples who give each other a peck on the lips? And call the police? The police who then tell the straight couple that a peck on the lips is illegal?
yeah but don't advertise ur own, just saying...
Nope.
Maybe if it was a membership business.
But even then, that could be problematic.
Living in a city w/a large gay population, I'm trying to go back in my mind an remember when/if I've ever seen gay people kiss... And then I remember that I don't have a memory of gay people kissing, bc I HAVE A LIFE, and I'm not wrapped up into to be offended, or looking at other people all the time.
I'm sure I've been in restaurants when people have kissed (or been a server) but I'm having fun or doing my job, so I don't even notice. This guy (and the cop) were (like the conservatives always say) looking to be offended.
As a g ay couple, my partner of ten years and I almost never kiss in public. We are even moderate about hugging or touching in any way, and we live in Los Angeles. It's the ingrained warriness (we're both in our 40s) that we might offend someone. I do feel annoyed that we feel the need to not be as affectionate as we might because of our sexuality.
Though honestly I feel every couple should be discreet.
Sad but that is the case with most of us that are over the age of 30 or so.
I am not big on anyone macking in public but a casual kiss or hug or display of some sort of affection should not offend anyone.
I am sorry we have to worry about our safety because of who we love but with the scary people that even post here, we may need to continue to worry.
If anyone should ever question the prevalence--and virulence--of homophobia/heterosexism in this nation, you should just send them here to read through the posts.
You can say that again.
1-800-gop...is all they need...
Pretty frightful, isn't it? You'd think we were living in the 1950's Deep South.
People still deny it exists. Try to say hate crimes laws are 'unnecessary,' ...when we live with this stuff all around us on a daily basis.
Jeez I can't believe that officer was so stupid as to site a law overturned by the Sup court.
The El Paso PD claims the officer was "inexperienced" but stupidity is a more apt description.
It makes me wonder if it relates to certain secessionist language some Red States have adopted reserving the right to ignore Federal civil rights laws and such.
Maybe those officers really *did* think they were allowed to ignore Federal law.
It's not so clear that Chico's did violate federal law by throwing them out. Unfortunately, g ays are not a protected class under the federal laws that prohibit public establishments (like restaurants) from discriminating on the basis of race and the like. However, it is apparant from the facts reported that Chico's at the very least violated the city of El Paso's civil rights ordinance--and that violation will form the basis of a lawsuit.
Their ad says it all. Good for a laugh. And they want dignified behavior.
http://www.chicosrestaurant.com/
no Trojans or worms connected to this link. I promise. Unless of course, you are referring to the management. : - ))
Sorry marymansour... wrong Chico's. There is a chain in WAY south Texas that is different.
Oops, didn't know that.
Alright, honesty, would anyone care if Texas did secede? We'd be better off as a culture if the entire deep south just became an independent hick theocracy.
That's really not fair. The issue w/ TX is that most ppl don't vote.
bingo, pr.cik got what, 14 percent to win..
Your exactly right. If all eligible latino and black texans went out to vote, the state would flip to blue in an instant.
Doubt they'll take secession seriously until the day that they stop receiving more (far more) federal money than they contribute in federal taxes. Such rugged individualists.
big paint brush there skippy...and ur culture is?
I would care as a progressive Texan living here trying to promote positive change.
It's not all hicks here.
More power to you and God bless, honey.
no, there are also tons of rednecks....and bible thumpers...the decent people I have met from Texas are those that left.....
Ewwwww. Yuck yuck yuck. People were eating!
That's what people say when you leave a restaurant. How ironic.
cosign
ur eating people, raw or cooked ?
report to detention you silly 3rd grader
#1. Time to find a very good lawyer and sue the owners. I would expect that the guys will enjoy the income from the restaurant they will own.
#2. I would have refused to leave, expected that the cop would issue the citation and still refused to leave (hoping to be arrested) then enlisted the resources of the ACLU to fight it all the way to the Supreme Court.
These people need to understand that that blue uniform does not allow them to run over the rights of people. This is an example of why the lawlessness of the Bush/Cheney administration needs to be resolved. Cops look at what Bush and Cheney did and think that they can do what ever they want.
Oh please...you would have left, or you would have been fined and served a few hours.
u'd kept right on suc.king that churro down in the back, admit it..
When the police arrive, the officers threaten a criminal citation against the gay patrons, citing an outdated state law banning homosexual conduct which WAS OVERTURNED BY THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IN 2003! (Lawrence v. Texas). Furthermore, officers incorrectly assert that businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason DESPITE a 2003 El Paso City Council resolution which outrightly bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Homos, be proud! Kiss your loved one in public every time you see a straight couple do so.
Why are these crazies threatened by gay guys. What is the most threatening thing about a gay dude?
Decades ago, that line about "the right to refuse service to anyone" was used by establishments that kept out non-whites.
Land of not free and home of the scared shitless.
lol
It all comes down to two things:
1)it makes you feel icky and you hate it
2)it turns you on so you might have feelings like this which is wrong, which means they made you feel this way, you want to kick their asses.
So basically its about fear and hate just like so many things which are considered not "normal" for years past
Some day by the grace of whatever deity you choose all this will be over and everyone will be able to love and marry whom they choose.
Praise Jeebus.
Clive Owen did you hear that?!?
Good post although I suspect in most cases your two things may really just be one in the same.
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First Posted: 07- 9-09 11:21 PM | Updated: 08- 9-09 05:12 AM