São Paulo, 8/4/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - It all began last week when a gay couple was expelled from the city's Frei Caneca shopping center because they were kissing.

A public reaction took place yesterday when hunderds of protesters showed up in pairs at the shopping center's food plaza and held a kissfest. The event, promptly baptized "The Big Kiss" ("Beijaço"), was sponsored by a number of civil liberty groups, among them Corsa (an anagram standing for Citizenship, Pride, Respect, Solidarity and Love); Prisma from the University of São Paulo; THEM (ELES), which stands for Meeting, Liberty, Expression and Safe Sex; and the Edson Néris Institute (named after a gay boy who was killed by skinheads in downtown São Paulo a few years ago).

According to one of the event's organizers, Eduardo Piza, there is a state law which prohibits discrimination against gays and the idea was to make everyone aware of it. "We just want shopping centers and other public places to respect the law," he said. (AB)