Kiss-in spreads love on Valentine's Day

As nearly 50 same-sex couples held hands and kissed in the Pit on Monday, even more students stopped in their tracks, taken back by the public displays of affection.

Members of the Committee for a Queerer Carolina sponsored the second kiss-in to raise awareness of the double standards placed on gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual students.

“Valentine’s Day is a day of expressive love,” said Win Chesson, a sophomore international studies major who organized the event. “Same-sex love is so often overlooked in commercials and all other arenas. Valentine’s Day is for all sorts of love.”

Chesson said his goal for the event was to encourage students to talk about taboos.

Committee members passed out fliers they intended to guide dialogue about the event and to provoke discussion about sexuality.

The fliers included a questionnaire that turned the table on heterosexuals, posing questions such as, “Is it possible that your heterosexuality is just a phase?” and “Why do heterosexuals seem compelled to seduce or recruit others into their lifestyle?”

Curtis Main, a junior biology and psychology major, participated in the event by kissing his boyfriend, Carlos Huicochea, a junior biology major.

“This is the most heteronormative day of the year, and queer people are left out of Valentine’s Day,” Main said. “Every day is a celebration of heterosexuality. Valentine’s Day is redundant.”

Event participant Allison McNeill, a senior religious studies major, viewed the kiss-in as a culmination of her time at UNC.

“This was a good event to celebrate the four years that me and my partner have been here together on campus,” she said.

The public event gave members of the committee a chance to be visible and feel safe in their life choices, McNeill noted.

“It is important to express our feelings and give information to the public,” she said.

Though not all onlookers approved of the group’s public displays of affection, the kiss-in brought applause and cheers from the crowd that gathered.

“It is a good way of expressing themselves,” said Kim Pastwick, a junior psychology major. “It is almost refreshing to see this.”

Fellow onlooker Kellie Mannette, a junior political science major, stressed the importance of pushing the envelope in public to make people think.

“Direct action is a good way to target the general public, get them to question heteronormativity and their daily lives,” Mannette said.

Chesson said he formally invited student body president candidates Seke Ballard and Seth Dearmin, as well as former candidate Tom Jensen, to the event.

“I sent them all handwritten invitations written on LGBTQ stationary,” Chesson said. “And they were sealed with a kiss.”

During the LGBTQ forum earlier this month, former student body president candidate Tom Jensen promised to kiss a man during the kiss-in. He garnered the group’s endorsement.

Jensen stayed true to his promise, while Dearmin supported the group by handing out fliers.

“Tom stuck to his word,” Chesson said. “I am very impressed with him, and we were really glad to have him participating in the event.”

The event was held simultaneously at several campuses across the country for the first time, ranging from Duke University to the University of Washington-Seattle and Cornell University.

“We heard about the event from students at UNC and decided to get involved,” said Erica Kagan, a student and a member of Direct Action to Stop Homophobia at Cornell. “We flew a big flag outside of our student union. It definitely got people’s attention.”

Chesson said he was pleased with UNC’s kiss-in and hopes to see it continue in the future.

“Hopefully next year it will gain momentum and become an even larger event,” Chesson said. “My hope is that one day, when this event happens, nobody notices.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.