A London bar has found itself embroiled in controversy after kicking out a gay couple for kissing. Jonathan Williams and James Bull were on their first date at the John Snow pub when the landlady asked them to leave, accusing them of “obscene” behavior. The event has sparked much public debate, the Guardian reports, including a plan, hatched on Facebook and Twitter, for a “kiss-in” protest at the pub.
The couple insists they weren’t being over-the top. “I’m not the kind of person who would do that kind of thing in public,” says Williams. One bystander says the two were “snogging, but it wasn’t heavy petting.” When they were asked to leave, a fellow drinker identifying himself as the landlord grabbed Williams by the lapels, prompting howls from other drinkers. “I was totally shocked. Dumbfounded really,” says one witness. “From a pub in the middle of Soho you just don’t expect it." (More gay stories.)