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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Kissing isn't obscene: Big Red commercials were played at any time of the day.
http://www
Related news:
"Pilot threatens to divert flight over gay kiss"
http://www
Fighting Police Gay Bashing In Texas
http://www
http://www
"One young man is in the hospital and could possibly die. At first I thought it was just another sad case of excessive police force, but the Fort Worth police Chief Jeff Halstead has made it clear...Ba
Is this taco dive a chain? Because I'd love to see a nationwide boycott.
Now we're talking.
Yes, Chico's is a chain. I agree. Boycott them.
Has anyone eaten there? Can't be much of a boycott if they weren't on your radar to begin with.
Boycott them...all five of them.
The joint has five El Paso locations, primarily on the town's east side, according to Wiki.
lets build a wall...
They are in cities in the southwest such as Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Albuquerque, etc.
I'm sure we could just boycott El Paso, from the sound of how the town is run.
There's a old saying that usually applies to everyone: "Get a room".
gonna share that cell...is another.
And I'm sure you're entirely consistent in applying your faux outrage to heter0 couples you see exhange a kiss in public.
Raul, weren't you in on that Mathew Shephard mu rder in Wyoming too?
rauls one those macho macho men...as long as the gang is behind him.
Kissing!!! Call the police.
I have the vapors!
And yet Huffington
People log an at work, you know.
Chil’ren say the darndest things!
I think that if all the straight folks are so convinced this isn't discrimination, but rather about kissing, then they ought to go there and give each other a little kiss on the lips and see how oppressed the poor dears really are.
We in the LBGT community will support you if you want to boycott the place for being so darn hung-up, ruining your evenings and all.
Well said.
Living in the Bay Area for 30+ years (OMG), I have seen generations of gays from all over middle America and abroad who have come here to burst out of their long psychological imprisonment. Because of that, I acecpt the flamboyance and overly demonstrative affection as a kind of statement. My wife has taught in an art school on SF for many years, and these "edgy" folks have become pretty much the norm. Many gays we know who are comfortable with their identities just shake their heads, and are much more "main stream" in their public behavior. I say this because I do believe there is a psychological aspect to the overt affection that is a response to the years of repression these folks suffered.
This particular situation in TX may not have been so overt, but I do know that tourists here are often shocked by this behavior - and it reminds me that there is a much bigger country beyond the right and left coasts.
"Pilot threatens to divert flight over gay kiss"
http://www
Why is it that a quick kiss automatically becomes labeled a porn-like tongue-lashing when a gay couple is involved?
Besides, when things like this are on TV at all times of the day, the obscenity argument is even more nullified:
http://www
That's a very good question.
About 40 years ago, I used to hang out at an ice house (open front bar) very near the ship channel in Houston, TX.
It was not what you call "gay friendly" or "liberal."
Two guys used to come by there on a regular basis and have a few beers. They were intelligent, friendly guys who were just more or less part of the regular group. Always together, never with girls and never talked about girls or dating.
We occasionally speculated as to their sexual orientation, but it was no big deal. We accepted the fact they were "gay" (not the word we used at the time) and left it alone.
BUT, if they had come into that seedy little bar and started making out and prancing around proclaiming their homosexuality, they would have been not so politely asked to leave and never come back.
I find it hard to believe that gays cannot understand that it is their public behavior that usually disgusts people. What they do with each other in private is totally irrelevant to most people that I've known.
I guess they're too self-absorbed to understand that acting gay and being gay are two different things. The first is not publicly acceptable in most places; the second is tolerated.
I guess you’re too self-absorbed to understand that what you are advocating is called the closet, and we ain’t going back there, mister.
It doesn't matter whether "acting gay" is tolerated or not.
Assuming straights can get away with holding hands and giving each other a simple kiss on the lips in public, then this kind of behavior between 2 gay dudes is legal and protected by the City of El Paso.
What's "acting gay"?
But if it was a straight couple making out, then there would be no problem, right? Or, if the two guys wanted to punch each other, well, that's OK too. How do you know they were "making out"? The article said they "kissed". How do you know they were "prancing around proclaiming their homosexuality"? Just assumptions on your part. When a straight couple kisses, are they prancing around proclaiming their heterosexuality?
What about all the commercials and billboards and media of all sorts that flaunt heterosexuality? It gets shoved in my face ALL THE TIME! And yet, I am expected to put up with that.
It's time for queezy straight folk to get a grip and get over it!
Again, I'm not sure I understand your point.
So you don't enjoy watching two men engaged in intimate physical contact. Okay, you've already made that clear. I don't like watching a lot of things myself. Different strokes for different folks. What does that have to do with the legality of not only removing someone from a restaurant for exhanging a kiss, but using offensive, derogatory language in the process?
I lived in San Francisco for several years, too. Most of the tourists who have a problem with such behavior don't actively seek out neighborhoods like the Castro. They congregate in Union Square, the Fisherman's Warf, or Nob Hill, etc.
"Nob Hill"....h
The legality of discrimination is not what I am addressing. I am addressing the phenomena of overly demonstrative gay behavior due to years of repression. SF is a big stage for many of these folks and I get it. Is it something I want to watch? Not so much. Would I want to watch the behavior of Spring Break bimbos and frat boys? Not so much.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence would not go over too well in El Paso, but around here we are disappointed if they don't make an appearance.
Tourists who come to SF know what they could see, so I doubt if there is much genuine shock - more something to talk about back in Dayton. What many visitors don't realize is how many gay people are NOT putting on a performance and are completely integrated into all levels of our culture yet are also out of the closet.
Amazing that this still goes on today in America. i have no words... only shame.
Cosign.
Get back in your closet.
CaliforniaLove, why are you being so cruel, 10 years from now what if your daughter decide to come out of the closet. Would you feel the same way?
no lunch for ur kids today, huh sport..
I have no closet. I'm happily dating a gorgeous goddess. Just don't feel the need to be a biggot and try and keep rights from people that are different from me just so i can feel important. I have other things to attend to.
Stay in hicks ville....
"I don't care if they're watching 'cause listen · We've got a reason for each time we're kissing
'Cause lovers live a little longer, baby "
George W. got kissed by a Saudi man in public and it seemed acceptable practice!
that was true love...
Disgusting, but acceptable. Thank Ghod they can't reproduce!
This is so funny.
Guy calls police at 12:30 AM to report "discrimination" of a taco stand.....
First of all, who calls police to report discrimination?
In the middle of the night at that......
The fact that they refused to leave is going to be used by the restaurant as evidence that the patrons were disruptive and obnoxious. Then the fact that the police were called to report a "discrimination crime" is not helpful either.
Wrong, flunkie, 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.
Yes but it is perfectly legal to kick obnoxious people out of a restaurant, being gay is not a defense for being obnoxious.
Poor gay couple, they called the police station not knowing they were calling the ra.cist station.
lol
Homophobia has nothing to do with rac ism.
I agree.
The events support the claim they were disruptive. They appear to have gone there for the sole purpose of creating a disturbance. It would be interesting to read a deposition as to why they chose that particular place.
Bunch of troublemakers, it appears to me. I'll bet the cops know them pretty well.
And then someone else would have had to call the police to get a cop and two security guards kicked out of there for being disruptive. Circle jerk.
'Appears?' How do you derive that?
Chico's is a beloved regional institution. Everybody goes there, and everybody has the right to go there, gays and homophobes alike.
Sounds like Tuckerndfw sure misses the days of the "service for Whites Only" signs hanging in restaurants.
The Chico's Tacos restaurants are a very well known late-night hang out. It's a place to go after hitting the clubs/bars for food (disgusting as the food is IMHO).
At that time of night, it's NOT unusual to have loud (usually drunk) groups of people there eating. It's actually rare to go there at anytime of day and not have it be loud because of people talking, kids screaming or the jukebox blaring out music.
There was no targeting of this place. They did not go there with an agenda.
Actually, it serves to establish a pretty good basis for a civil suit, especially when your city's police force don't even know the laws of their own state/jurisdiction.
A pattern of discrimination against Gays by the restaurant and Police will have to be established.
EL PASO KISSMOB! MAKEOUT FLASHMOB! Saturday, July 11, 1 pm @ Chico's Taco's! Gays, Straights, EVERYONE meet @ 11381 Montwood. Everyone start to make out at 1 pm! Bring yr Cameras!
Concept. :)
i'm gonna be running the dollar booth..lin
..you're k.i.l.l.i.
quit it.....som
Bring your bail money.
You congregate on someone's private property and you will be arrested for criminal trespass before you make out for very long.
Then, you can make out in the El Paso County jail. Be sure to take pictures. Oh, no, wait, you're camera will be confiscated as evidence & you won't be seeing it for awhile (never again).
gonna watch it on tivo with the kids ehh sport...
Spoken like a true stormtrooper. Kissing is SOOOOOO threatening!
You're fine on the sidewalk.
actually, you're fine in the taco stand too if you are buying food. Remember, THEY CANNOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST YOU FOR BEING GAY!
But if you are creating a disturbance over what happened they can make you leave or have you arrested if you refuse to.
Sure it's a double standard, but consider for a moment what these two men did to the Ensign and Sanford marriages! The very idea of gay unions destroyed their marriages.
It's Chaos Theory in action. A butterfly flaps it's wings in China...
PEACE
It's a sad week for civil rights in the USA.. in the same week a group of bl.ack children kicked out of a pool and then a group of ga.y men kicked out of a restaurant
Good old God Save Amerika.
Wow, this is not the America I love.
Proof to the saying: Love is blind
It's the brainless Palinistas acting out because Mommy left her job.
lmao
chip chip chip. they just keep chipping away at the rights of everyone of us.
I know. It's just awful how the police do that isn't it.
Anyone who says they consider same-sex couples simply kissing to be "im moral behavior" is, in effect, shouting "I'm a b.i.g.o.t and d*mn proud of it!!!"
opening announcement for the GOP convention
You could not be further from the truth, and maybe making that statement , you better check out your mirror once again. Two men kissing in a "Restaurant" is enough to make one throw-up, get real, two men want to kiss , there is a time and place, don't try and shove your behavior down everyone's throat, when people are trying to enjoy a meal. You don't have that right.
I wouldn't be eating at a taco place if your stomach is that weak. :)
Enough to make you throw up? What are you, 10?
Try a little Pepto-Bismol.
Isn't it fun to live in a country that smiles with excitement at violence but cringes with disgust at love
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First Posted: 07- 9-09 11:21 PM | Updated: 08- 9-09 05:12 AM