D.C. Joins Russian Embassy Kiss-In
Sunday protest to oppose oppression of LGBT community in Russia
LGBT activists in cities across the world, including Prague, Stockholm and Brussels – as well as Washington – are planning to hold a global ”kiss-in” in front of multiple Russian embassies Sunday, Sept. 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. Participants have begun coordinating their actions via Facebook in the past week.
The kiss-ins are intended to protest Russia’s increasingly anti-LGBT climate, including a new, extremely vague law banning ”propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors.
Russia’s anti-gay stance has attracted a host of negative press, particularly concerning the 2014 Sochi Olympics, at which participants and spectators have been warned they may be arrested for any pro-LGBT displays.
David Isaac, a Silver Spring resident, told Metro Weekly he had received notice of several of the other kiss-in events, but noticed that there was nothing in the Washington area, despite the fact that D.C. has one of the highest concentrations of LGBT people in the nation. So Isaac created a Facebook event calling on D.C.-area residents to kiss in front of the Russian Embassy at 2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
”It will be interesting to me to see what the turnout is,” he said. ”I hope I don’t just end up kissing my own hand.”
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