Kissing Controversy

The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Nearly 20 Years Later, It's Still Provocative...

[Note: I'm "reprinting" this from our internal gay, lesbian, bi, trans (GLBT) community database, where my friend and colleague, John Martin, posted a link to an article in his local paper, "Lesbian Kiss at Seattle Ballpark Stirs Debate," which inspired me to reminisce:]

In 1989, a bunch of lesbians staged a kiss-in at Water Tower Place in Chicago. I know because I was there, interviewing the kissers and the passers-by for "The 10% Show" of Gay Cable Network. It was the segment that I was proudest of producing.

A couple of guys in Chicago Bulls regalia stopped to stare and I approached them with my mike and the camerwoman with her camera and asked, "What do you think?"

"God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," said one of them, not taking his eyes off of the crowd.

"This is Eve and Eva," I responded.

"Well, it's disgusting!" he answered.

"Then why are you standing here?" asked one of the crowd, who heard him.

He pushed his friend, "C'mon, let's go!" and they shuffled off.

Another woman, a Marshall Fields employee with her badge still on, stopped to talk with me; she was with her teenage daughter. "Hey, it doesn't bother me!" she said and gave a nervous laugh, but seemed sincere.

"What about you?" I asked the daughter.

"It's a little scary," she said.

"Scary?"

"Yeah, I'm just not used to it."

I thanked them and they made their way down Michigan Avenue while I spoke with some of the kissers, who said they were there to be able to kiss their partners in public, on the street, "...like we never get to do."