Kiss-in to protest gay bashing at Bourse

A kiss-in has been organised for Friday at the Bourse in response to a gay bashing that took place there last weekend. In the wee hours of Sunday morning a gay couple were surrounded by several youth in the street and beaten.

After a night out last Saturday, a married couple holding hands were taunted and followed by five young men as they walked past the Bourse. “They threatened us, shouted intimate questions about our sexuality, intimidated us. They looked barely 18 years old,” one of the couple, Jonathan, told VRT.

His husband, Clément, tried to talk to them, but the young men circled him. “I took his hand and told them goodbye,” said Jonathan. “They were backing away, but then one of them suddenly punched Clément in the neck.”

It escalated, and the group beat the two men until the fight was broken up by other friends of the group. “What shocked me the most was how young they were,” Jonathan told VRT. “That is something heterosexual couples really need to think about if they have kids. You can feel however you want about homosexuality, but if you don’t teach your kids to have respect for other people, they can become thugs.”

Brussels’ Rainbow House is asking gay couples to take to the steps of the Bourse at 20.00 on Friday for a kiss-in. “Bring anyone you want to kiss, hug or whose hand you want to take,” said the organisation. “The public space belongs to all of us.”