San Francisco stages a kiss-in to #SpreadLove for Orlando
In the wake of the Orlando shooting, the LGBT community and its allies banded together to #SpreadLove by sharing photos of themselves kissing in Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco's Castro district.
The "kiss-in" came after a flood of tributes to the victims of the attack, including a stirring rendition of "True Colors" by the Orlando Gay Chorus and the rainbow lighting of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
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A man armed with an assault-style rifle and a handgun killed 49 people and injured 53 more at the Pulse Nightclub on Sunday, which was holding a Latin dance night.
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Curt Janka, who organized the event, was inspired by the #twomenkissing hashtag that took off not long after the massacre. "If a same-sex kiss prompted the heinous event in Orlando, then let's flood the Internet with positive displays of love," he wrote on the event's Facebook page. "Love, in all its beautiful forms, is not to be feared."
Janka invited people to come down to the Castro on Wednesday to show their affection and share their experiences with the #SpreadLove hashtag.
"This was an attack against our whole LGBTQ community so I wanted to make sure it wasn't just #TwoMenKissing but also #TwoWomenKissing," Janka told Mashable in an email. "That's why #SpreadLove has been the core message."
He snapped plenty of love-filled photos at the kiss-in:
"Yes, we need to take tangible action and address gun control laws," Janka told Mashable. "But we are human. We need to grieve and love is one of the best ways to heal the hurt."
Topics LGBTQ
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
