GREEK GAY YOUTH TO STAGE VALENTINE KISS-IN

Greek youngsters are getting fed up that a male-female kiss in public is accepted in society but a same-sex kiss is not.

And one Athens group, the recently-formed Colour Youth, aims to do something about it – on St. Valentine’s Day.

“On Monday, February 14th, the hetero-normal St. Valentine’s Day, we defend our kisses in public, in the heart of central Athens,” the youth group said in a statement today.

“For a lot of us youth with sexual orientation that differs from society’s accepted norm, just the idea of a kiss in daylight terrifies us. Our feelings of guilt regarding this totally human act is something that we want to change.

“The kiss between mother and child, between father and gay son, our first teenage kiss, the kiss goodnight, the comforting kiss between friends are just some of the kinds of kisses we exchange every day. Our kisses express passion, love, tenderness, and friendship. For us, every kiss deserves respect.”

The event follows the censorship of same-sex kisses in Katy Perry’s Firework and Pink’s Raise Your Glass music videos by two television stations, MTV Greece and MAD TV, explained Stefanos Agelastos, an organiser of Athens Pride and a founder of Colour Youth.

The censorship, Mr. Agelastos told UK Gay News, was “a no-reason-discrimination from the part of the TV channels”.

The St Valentine’s Day Kiss-In is at 8pm on Ermou Street, Syntagma Square, Athens. Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, is welcome to join the youth of Athens and other Greek LGBT organisations.