Important program on 20/20

[matthewspeed]

Everyone,

Tonight (Friday, April 25), 20/20 on ABC will be airing a special on gay couples showing affection in public. ABC news is traveling to various cities throughout the U.S., evaluating how the general public responds to lesbians and gays showing acts of affection in public places. This should be interesting.

Has anyone on this forum freely showed affection with their same sex partner in public? If you have, what kind of responses have you received from the general public?

-Matthew

[BenL]

Has anyone on this forum freely showed affection with their same sex partner in public? If you have, what kind of responses have you received from the general public?

Since Charley's transition, only in Provincetown and Key West. And even there, some people would give us dirty looks ... all while holding their opposite-sex partner's hand.

[tdogg]

Everyone,

Tonight (Friday, April 25), 20/20 on ABC will be airing a special on gay couples showing affection in public. ABC news is traveling to various cities throughout the U.S., evaluating how the general public responds to lesbians and gays showing acts of affection in public places. This should be interesting.

Has anyone on this forum freely showed affection with their same sex partner in public? If you have, what kind of responses have you received from the general public?

-Matthew

My partner is not quite as apt to display affection in public as I am. Part of it is because she has learned through being out for nearly her entire life, that it is often easier to hide it. I'm more enthusiastic, and often without thinking, I'll hug her, hold her hand and even give her a kiss. I rarely ever think about anyone else around, though sometimes I'll look at her like Yikes, sorry! She's getting much more lax tho! I can't remember ever having any incident where someone was noticeably upset.

We are quite affectionate when grocery shopping together. Not sure why? Maybe food is the way to anyone's heart! :D;)

[Zerbie]

My partner is not quite as apt to display affection in public as I am. Part of it is because she has learned through being out for nearly her entire life, that it is often easier to hide it. I'm more enthusiastic, and often without thinking, I'll hug her, hold her hand and even give her a kiss. I rarely ever think about anyone else around, though sometimes I'll look at her like Yikes, sorry! She's getting much more lax tho! I can't remember ever having any incident where someone was noticeably upset.

We are quite affectionate when grocery shopping together. Not sure why? Maybe food is the way to anyone's heart! :D;)

You are very in love. That's what that tells me.

If she has been out far longer than you, then she was out in a world that was more dangerous than the present world. It will take more time for her to really absorb/internalize the fact that things are better now in many ways. It still often surprises me how different (in many ways better) things are than merely 10 years ago.

[matthewspeed]

When I was with my partner a couple of years ago, I met him at the airport and when he got off the plane, I hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I had my arm around him as we walked to the baggage claim. I didn't even notice if anyone was watching. I didn't care. It was very freeing. I am single now, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will always introduce my future boyfriend as my boyfriend, not my "friend" or "buddy."

[BlueGirl]

You are very in love. That's what that tells me.

If she has been out far longer than you, then she was out in a world that was more dangerous than the present world. It will take more time for her to really absorb/internalize the fact that things are better now in many ways. It still often surprises me how different (in many ways better) things are than merely 10 years ago.

When Sharon (my ex) and I first got together and came out, we kissed in the car (a convertable) with the top down, on our way to town from work, while sitting at the traffic light with a string of traffic behind us, a lot of which were people who worked at the same factory we did and who were on our shift. :eek::eek: Talk about flaunting it!!! To a certain extent, that was an activist thing but we must have been crazy. :eek: That was in 1972 and we lived in the same small town area where I grew up in and live now. :eek::eek: That's one of the things I had in mind in an earlier post when I said I wish I had come out of the closet a little more quietly. I'm sorry I did it then and I sure wouldn't do it now.
And because of that, any public place I worked at around here in the '90's (I lived away from here during the '80's), sooner or later, someone who knew me would see me and tell my co-workers and then the trouble would start. It's been like living in a fishbowl and I don't even have anyone now, not even friends to be with. :'(
During that same year, we went to a big fair and took her daughter who she pushed in a stroller. Sharon and I were dressed alike and were walking side by side with her pushing the stoller and we literally stopped the show once. At one of the attractions or whatever it was, a woman was making her spiel and stopped right in the middle of it when she saw us walking by. We got a kick out that but it scares me to think about it now. :eek: I guess that shows I've either gotten old or obtained more sense or both.
Things have maybe changed where some of you are and I'm really glad they have, but they sure haven't changed here, at least not enough to notice. :(

BlueGirl

[RedneckDyke]

We hold hands by both holding onto to the shopping cart at Piggly Wiggly. We hug all the time, anywhere. Sometimes I sneak kisses in public. ANita calls me "naughty butch" I blush and get titillated. ;)

[tymejumper]

We hold hands by both holding onto to the shopping cart at Piggly Wiggly. We hug all the time, anywhere. Sometimes I sneak kisses in public. ANita calls me "naughty butch" I blush and get titillated. ;)


I like to be affectionate, but unfortunately, my wife is not into public affection. Some of this is due to the fact that she was bashed and had several ribs broken by someone who thought she was "turning" their sister into a lesbian. (kinda like a vampire....don't they get turned also? :rolleyes:) She also is just a very private person. I find myself wanting to touch her, so I just stroke her hair or sometimes put my arm around her at the restaurant when we sit together. It shows that we are a couple and I have not had a problem yet. I did get busted kissing her by my neighbor. We were planting flowers and I bent to kiss her, didn't know my neighbor was coming by to check on his daughter! He was really cool and it didn't phase him at all. He never has treated us different, and also his wife is cool with it. Our kids still play togehter and sleep at each others houses.

[BeyondBlessed]

Wow, I remember having this debate when I was in high school. Some people were upset because two girls kissed each other outside before school. The school didn't get involved but I remember some parents and students getting upset over it. It didn't stop with that particular couple and emboldened some others. I read the school newspaper online and the year after I graduated two guys were voted cutest couple and had a picture together jogging down the street with their arms around each other. Whether they were serious or just playing, I really don't know.

In small-town Indiana its rare to see such PDA except in certain coffee houses or downtown. There's a pizza shop I go to that's owned by a gay man and his partner and they seem to be patronized by many gays, so I'd expect to see it there and the woman who cuts my hair, again, her business is patronized by the GLBT community so I'd expect to see it.

[BeyondBlessed]

Something I wanted to add:

When I was 16 I worked at Wesselman's and I would mainly stock shelves but after a few weeks there I learned how to run the register so I could give cashiers their breaks. There were two guys that came through my line one time that were obviously gay and were all over eachother. I think I was a little flustered as it was such a rare experience for me. That was before I went to that particular high school. I didn't say anything, but I'm pretty sure my face was red. The other cashier was a garage-band, stoner type and after they left he just turned around and said, "dude, were they gay???" I just said "I think so."

They were going a little further than PDA should go IMO. They were grabbing each-other's junk and discussing what they wanted to do with their evening in detail. I don't think a straight couple would be doing that in a grocery store.

[RedneckDyke]

They were going a little further than PDA should go IMO. They were grabbing each-other's junk and discussing what they wanted to do with their evening in detail. I don't think a straight couple would be doing that in a grocery store.

You would be surprised what straights do in grocery stores.. Sometimes I wish they'd understand that normal folks don't wanna see that and that they should keep it in the bedroom.:D

[BeyondBlessed]

You would be surprised what straights do in grocery stores.. Sometimes I wish they'd understand that normal folks don't wanna see that and that they should keep it in the bedroom.:D

I guess that's true. Some workers had a lot of fun at that store. Something went on between one of our assistant managers and a Frito Lay vendor in the stock room and then there was sex-ed with Katie from produce...

I just think this couple went a little too far for public behavior and I can think of some examples involving straight couples too.

[Alecto]

Thought I was gonna have to tell you about the straight customers in my store who weren't just talking about it in one of the aisles. Straight people would TOTALLY do that, every bit as often as gay folks.

[pnggrad79]

I am more free with my affection than my wife is. She just doesn't like to draw attention to us, but ever so often I will rub her leg or whisper something into her ear or touch her hand. Sometimes when no one is looking, that we can see, she will kiss me...

But when we get behind closed doors....