Starbucks chosen site for Same-sex Kiss Day Campaign

by Rhonda J Mangus | March 28, 2009 at 06:58 am

4898 views | 83 Recommendations | 51 comments

Although not officially hosting the event, one of the most gay-friendly corporations in America, Starbucks is the chosen site for a Same-sex Kiss Day Campaign.

The event is being held on America's tax deadline day, April 15th, to draw attention to the facts that LGBT couples have yet to be granted the same rights as hetero-sexual married couples to file taxes jointly on a Federal level, and can still be fired for being openly gay in the workplace.

All interested persons are encouraged to participate and show support at a Starbucks on Tax Day, April 15th, at 7:15 AM, 12:15 PM, 5:15 PM, or 8:15 PM. Visit Same-Sex Kiss Day for additional information.

Related readings:

President Obama's Commitment to Federal LGBT Equality

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Barry Artiste

at 07:37 on March 28th, 2009

one can be certain Vancouver starbucks will follow

Rhonda J Mangus

at 04:40 on March 29th, 2009

Thank you, Barry!

tikun

at 09:20 on March 28th, 2009

Kissing in public and filing tax returns. The connection? Am I missing something here? Public display of sexual preference is going to move the American public? I don't think so.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 04:48 on March 29th, 2009

tikun, thank you for reading and commenting!

James Hansen (not verified)

at 20:21 on April 3rd, 2009

Thank you Tikun I couldn't agree more. The Fact is there are more straight people then homosexual's. So therefore straight people like myself are the primary supporters of starbucks. With the economy in the state that it is in it is foolish for a company to support something so ludicrous. More people need to take a stand against this. Starbucks needs to be a coffee shop and stop trying to get involved in anything else. I don't want to have to explain to my 7 year old daughter why two men or women are kissing. I can't stop people from doing that nor is it my business but I certainly don't want it put right in front of my face in a public area.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:55 on April 4th, 2009

James Hansen (not verified), thank you for stopping by and commenting. You are entitled to your opinions, however, please note (at the story) that "Starbucks is not officially hosting the event"; they do, however, support Equality. Thanks again!

Don W (not verified)

at 14:33 on April 15th, 2009

Do you stop to explain to your seven year old daughter why a man and a woman are kissing in public? Did not think so.

Roy C

at 09:35 on March 28th, 2009

Rhonda, I think that this is a bit in bad taste and trivializes the problem while being just enough of "in-your-face" that it helps alienate those against gay marriage.

The best argument for gay marriage is for gays to act marriageable by acting like married people do, relatively conservative, not the way that San Francisco's gay parades have ended too often, with a lot of public sex in the woods in Golden Gate Park.

Amy Judd

at 09:44 on March 28th, 2009

As a non-married person, the view that all married people act 'marriageable' and 'relatively conservative' makes me never want to get married - I'm not even sure what acting 'marriageable' means! Perhaps I am not conservative enough and that's why I am not married yet? :( (joking, I just chuckled when I read this)

Roy C

at 11:23 on March 28th, 2009

Well, marriage give certain rights and financial privileges that you can, in fact, get without being married.

For example, you could adopt your partner.

But this is about tactics, Amy, about getting the people to vote for a law you want, and Kissy Face day won't do it.

generaldecay

at 12:31 on March 28th, 2009

I have to ask too - what is it to be 'marriageable'? I don't think I got that personality trait when they were giving it out! ;)

And don't heterosexual couples have public sex too? Surely that's not a gay-only activity?

Rhonda J Mangus

at 09:45 on March 28th, 2009

Hi Roy! Thank you for reading, commenting, and for the recommendation!

The organizers apparently have their own reasons for organizing this event, acknowledging it both safe and silly:

"But I'm not out! I'm scared of being shamed and outcast by my community!

Now's the time, Gays. And we've made it as safe and silly for you as possible by choosing the most gay-friendly,corporate spot in the world. Starbucks! Starbucks has been committed to LGBT rights since the beginning of time offering domestic partnership insurance, quoting gay artists on their coffee cups and funding our pride parades."

Roy C

at 09:55 on March 28th, 2009

I understand, but it largely plays to the chorus and does little to help further an agenda of gay men, in particular, who are seen, quite reasonably, as very promiscuous.

If you want to promote your cause, think about what would diminish the negatives in the minds of the opposition.

The same with umpteen articles here at NowPubic about the pope's very wrong take on the usefullness of condoms.

We don't, by and large, have problems here with AIDS because of the pope. The problem is the promiscuity of a certain group within the gay community who specifically refuse to wear condoms, and when you criticize them, you are condemned as homophobic.

That is my point. You can ask others to improve only as much as you take yourself to task for your deficiencies, and all groups have a bad side to them.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 10:10 on March 28th, 2009

Roy, I am taking the liberty of refreshing your memory, here. Thanks again for commenting, but the idea that "The problem is the promiscuity of a certain group within the gay community who specifically refuse to wear condoms..."., is simply not true!

Roy C

at 10:19 on March 28th, 2009

Really, I lived in the Bay Area for two periods of several years. That is not what I heard and read.

AIDS rate started to go up a few years ago just after gonorhea and syphilis rates went back up. Many young gay men didn't see AIDS as a death sentence anymore. Some simply refuse.

This was all in San Fran newspapers at the time.

Roy C

at 10:02 on March 28th, 2009

Oh, please, Esta, "wild" doesn't even begin to describe a scene that only diminished in SF because people died of AIDS.

At the time, public health officials couldn't and/or wouldn't close the bath houses that spread the plague because of pressure from within the gay community. Even now you cannot describe someone with AIDS as "disabled". As if they could live without tens of thousands of dollars of drugs given essentially free to most.

Those attitudes and other "in-your-face" attitudes have a lot to do with the backlash. I think of Jack Black mocking Jesus in his video to get revenge on losing the prop 8 battle. What a losing strategy that is.

When Mormons get singled out at opponents of gay marriage when blacks and Asians were just as or even more opposed undercuts what you can accomplish as an activist.

Everybody knows that they have gay relatives, brothers and sisters. It is very personal. We get it.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 10:31 on March 28th, 2009

Roy, Prop 8 - The Musical was one of five finalists in the Human Rights Campaign E-Hero Award.

Roy C

at 10:08 on March 28th, 2009

"Need for equal rights" could include civil unions.

Roy C

at 10:16 on March 28th, 2009

"If same sex kissing day helps that end, then so be it."

A very big "if".

albertacowpoke

at 10:24 on March 28th, 2009

I.m very openminded in regards to the gay community, but I am not for the in the face stuff. In Canada we already legalized gay marriage. The funny thing about it is, that the politicians didn.t have to nerve to legislate it. To avoid a political setback they passed the issue to the Supreme Court to test it against the Canadian Charter of Rights. As far as I.m concerned this was shameful on part of the politicians. Gays were legalized in the Canadian Forces in the 90s. We didn. wimp around with don.t ask, don.t tell policy. Despite some opposition bye some in the military community, it is now accepted for what it is. In summary, I think great strides have been made in Canada, despite politicians and the in the face stuff is no longer required. From what I read the issue is front and centre in the US as well. We all live in the world together, let.s play nice.

Roy C

at 10:33 on March 28th, 2009

Risky Business Reassessing prevention strategies in the real world

The Omens
As in a storm watch, several small signs can coalesce into a picture of what might be coming. The decline in U.S. AIDS deaths for 1998 slowed to less than half the 1997 rate, while the annual decline in new AIDS cases took a similar turn, dropping 18 percent in 1997 but only 11 percent in 1998. "We anticipated this," says Gayle, attributing the slowing decline to a diminishing pool of untreated people who know their HIV status, as well as to viral resistance or difficulties in adhering to the complicated pill-taking regimen. "It appears that much of the benefit of the new treatments has been realized."

What provoked more hand-wringing worry in the Hyatt Regency's crowded conference rooms were the charts and slides indicating increased sexual risk-taking and rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, blips on graphs that otherwise show syphilis and gonorrhea at all-time national lows. Like weather vanes indicating wind drift, STDs can reliably predict currents in HIV transmission. Nationally, gonorrhea incidence in gay men has tripled since 1993 in 28 surveyed cities, and syphilis is staging a resurgence as well. When the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Stop AIDS Project surveyed 21,857 gay men between 1994 and 1997, they found the number of men reporting unprotected anal sex and multiple sex partners had reached 33 percent by 1997. And as rates of safe sex plummeted, rates of rectal gonorrhea almost doubled.

That was what I was reading about in the late '90s.

Prevention Issues for Gay Men

Risky Business By Spencer Cox Winter 2005/2006

For instance, because syphilis is transmitted in much the same way as HIV, we've often looked at rates of that disease to show us who is having unprotected sex.

Among urban gay men, syphilis rates have more than tripled since 2000.

In New York City, the rise in syphilis rates among gay men has been associated with increased average income, diagnosis in a private doctor's office (as opposed to a public clinic), increased age, and residence in one of the "gay ghettos" along the west side of Manhattan. The syphilis epidemics in other major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC, followed a similar pattern.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 05:01 on March 29th, 2009

Roy, thanks for providing this information!

Roy C

at 10:41 on March 28th, 2009

Why Do Men Bareback? No Easy Answers

Toby, a Passive Barebacker

Toby is a white, 35-year-old, HIV-negative gay man who came to see me because of depression and loneliness. A successful and ambitious architect, he worked exceptionally long hours to make partner in his firm. His last relationship ended during his final year of graduate school, after 2 years, and he had not had another partner in almost 10 years. Because of his intense focus on work, Toby had not taken the time to cultivate deep friendships. He did have a group of people with whom he would go to clubs to dance a few times a month. Typically, during those outings, he would take MDMA (Ecstasy) and smoke marijuana. He said it helped him lose his inhibitions and cut loose on the dance floor. At the end of the night he would usually end up going home with someone he had just met. Toby did not seek out barebacking, but he allowed it to happen if the other man wanted to do it. He said he never discussed HIV status with the men he went home with unless the other man initiated the discussion. If a sexual partner initiated the use of condoms for anal sex, Toby said he felt relieved and gladly used them. But if the other man did not bring up the topic, Toby wound up going along with whatever the other man wanted to do sexually, even if it meant having UAI. Toby almost never made a date to see any of these men a second time. Toby was sexually versatile but preferred to be the top.

Jordan Yerman

at 10:44 on March 28th, 2009

As the divorce rate in the US hovers around 50%, I'd recommend against trying to be the Waltons. It's worth considering that trying to live up to an unrealistic model of what a married couple should be would add to the stress of being married in the first place. In light of this, I honestly don't see a problem with same-sex marriage, since the only thing it threatens is a fictional standard.

The Waltons themselves don't care. They're not real.

Roy C

at 10:55 on March 28th, 2009

This has nothing to do with the Waltons. That is not an argument. Irrelevant.

We are discussing tactics and I am telling you that gay tactics are self-destructive and that is why there is a backlash.

Roy C

at 11:01 on March 28th, 2009

And, if the divorce rate is high, why, then, should marriage be extended to another community?

Surely, if divorce rates are so high, then marriage is a loser. So, why allow a group, gay men, in particular, who have a sub-culture committed to multiple partners, to be included in this dying institution?

That is what the opponents think.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 05:08 on March 29th, 2009

jordan, thank you for reading and commenting!

jazzyzazzy

at 10:51 on March 28th, 2009

YIPEE SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD OLD BASH TO ME. I am not Gay but yes for any good cause I would kiss a woman. Noo I have to say it wouldnt be a long smouldering sensual sexy kiss. Naw it would only be a wee kiss.Would I get aids.this story is not about Aids its about freedom to fly in the face of adversity which minority groups face every day of their lives,born from ignorance.

Roy C

at 10:57 on March 28th, 2009

Tactics are important. If you disregard your target audience, those fence-sitters who might just embrace your cause if you show you are worthy of support, you lose.