Michael MonnierSébastien and Simon kissed each other.
They were insulted. Beaten up. Assaulted.
In Montreal. On a Saturday night. Late April.
In the street. Then in a bar.
Sébastien and Simon.
To condemn. To claim a right.
Montrealers gathered in a plaza.
To kiss each other. To demonstrate.
“That being in love is not a crime.”
“We stand here for all the people who suffer physical and verbal violence because of their sexual orientation.”
“We are not going to let ourselves intimidated. We just love each other. Nothing else, says Sébastien tearfully. All the people who suffer violence: speak out, do not hesitate. You are not alone.”
“We stand here not only against homophobia, but against lesbophobia and transphobia too, tells Simon. We are here to love each other. That’s it. Fuck them.”
“We must have all the rights. But some people think they have rights on us. On our bodies. They think that they are allowed to act as if they are some kind of behavior officers. Nature’s police. Equal Love’s police.”
“What did Sébastien and Simon did? They kissed each other.”
“So, what do we think while we kiss someone we love? Maybe he or she said something nice. So nice that we felt it in our chest. And we kiss her because we have nothing else to answer.”
“We may kiss someone because we want to apologize. Even if we already kissed her 50 times. We kiss her again.”
“Sometimes we kiss because we are tired. Or because the one we love is leaving for a while. Or for a few minutes. We kiss because she’s here. Because it’s feeling good. And sometimes, we kiss someone because we desire. And we are desired.”
“Then, just before we kiss each other, we think about her or his lips. We put our lips on his lips to put the world on pause. And to only think of his or her lips.”
“So, what were Sébastien and Simon thinking while kissing each other? I don’t know. And I would like people to stop asking why.”
“The homophobic violence must stop now. And the fear of it too. Because love is already scary enough. We just want to handle love.”
