Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Kiss-In at Herald Square For Marriage Equality

By DNAinfo Staff on June 18, 2011 4:29pm  | Updated on June 19, 2011 10:06am

By Tim Gorta

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — This time, it's okay to kiss and tell.

A group of about 30 packed into a Herald Square cosmetic shop Saturday for a kiss-in supporting marriage equality and same-sex marriage.

The kiss-in, organized by LUSH Cosmetics, at 34th and Broadway, and Freedom to Marry, started at 11:38 a.m., referring to the reportedly 1,138 marriage-related rights currently denied to same-sex couples.

"We're asking the public to come down to kiss in support of freedom to marry and we're telling the government to end federal marriage discrimination" against same-sex couples, said Brandi Halls, campaigns manager for LUSH.

"We're having folks sign postcards to send to the US Congress, to show support for the Respect for Marriage Act," said Jackie Yodashkin, communications director for Freedom to Marry.

The protest comes as a measure to legalize same sex marriage sits just one vote shy of passage. 

Only two couples took the plunge to smooch at the store.  Of the two, one couple, Daniel Gervais and David Casavant, came down from Montreal, Canada, to show their support.

"I'm here because of the 1,138 rights that gay people don't have in America," said Gervais.

"We're from Canada and we have the freedom to marry there," added Casavant.  "In America, [gay people] don't have the same rights I do.  It's not fair."