Two men thrown out of Santorum rally for kissing

Videos and reports are surfacing on the Internet that show that two men were thrown out of a Santorum rally for standing up and kissing each other.  Their friends, who apparently supported them, followed the two out of the rally.  The rally took place, Friday evening, at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Santorum was fifteen minutes into his speech when they stood up and kissed each other, causing a disturbance over their public display of affection.  This kiss prompted guards to escort them out of the rally, while attendees chanted "U.S.A", as the two men and their friends left the gym.  After they left, people cheered.

When asked if their kiss was merely symbolic, the two men, Timothy Tross of Lombard and Ben Clifford of Algonquin, declined to respond.  However, one of the two men, was quoted concerning the message the two attempted to convey.

“I don’t think the message should be about what my sexuality is,” Tross said. “It’s the message that he’s saying about sexuality that matters.”

Caramel Catholic Alumni, where Santorum spent his senior year of high school, apparently planned a protest against Santorum during his rally.

“We feel it is important to counter Santorum’s anti-gay hate, to set an example to students,” Muchowski said. “Rick sends a message of bullying, but we want high school students to know that other alumni send a message of equality.”

According to Illinois Santorum organizers, 2100 Santorum supporters attended the rally.

Santorum talked about freedom and liberty during the rally:

We need a president who understands that America is the greatest country in the history of the world and what we’ve done across this country, across this world, it’s not oppress, it’s not invade, we are not invaders, we are not people that seek gain of territory, oil, property.

'What we seek is security for ourselves and liberty and prosperity for others and it’s nothing to apologize for.

The kiss occurs long about the 3:35 minute mark, after a few people shouted, “Mic check”:

The kiss, without Santorum’s speech, that upset and disturbed the crowd:

Mriana

Mriana is a humanist and the author of "A Source of Misery". She has two grown sons and raises cats. She enjoys writing, reading, science, philosophy, psychology, and other subjects. Mriana is also an animal lover, who cares for their welfare as living beings, who are part of the earth. She is a huge Star Trek fan in a little body.

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  • Deborah_B

    There's a time and a place for things, and I don't think these two men should have been making a public kissing display at the rally.   Doing things in private is one thing, but publicly is another.

    Personally — and maybe I'm too conservative — I can't stand it when people, straight or gay, make a big, public display of their affection. 

    • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

      Personally, as long as they are not harming anyone, including themselves, and the other doesn't object, I really don't care what people do, short of actually having sex in public that is.  I just look away and ignore them or go somewhere else.  In my opinion, the response was over the top, but so was their display.  If they are gay, they didn't have to stand up for all to see, but of course, they were supposedly protesting, which was the wrong way to go about it.  If they are straight, well the way they protest is still not the way to go about it, but whatever the case, they seem young, thus they will learn.  It's generally the young who do the outrageous and shocking, as a means to protest something or get attention.

    • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

      I know it's a couple days later, but I thought maybe I should clarify what I said a little.  Ironically, I grew up in a huggy family and sometimes my grandparents, who were ultra-conservative, did give each other a quick kiss.  Terms of endearment were common, unless they were very upset.  I'd think something was wrong if a friend or family member didn't call me a term of endearment or a hug as a greeting, praise, or affection, every now and then.  A quick affectionate kiss between a man and a woman never bothered me, but for a long while a kiss between two same sex people did and despite not having thoughts with the feelings I still had feelings of revulsion.  I had to ask myself, aside from being the same sex, what was the difference, esp if they weren't hurting anyone and neither of the two objected?  I could not come up with an answer to that question and it seem the most reasonable solution to my feelings when I saw two people of the same sex kiss, was to just look away and not stare at the two, even though if they were the opposite sex, I would not have the same feelings occur within myself.  It has gotten to the point that as long as two people are not making out or having sex in public, I really don't care anymore because I could not think of a reasonable and logical reason for my two different feelings.  I just refrain from staring at them and sometimes I have to ask myself the same question again, just to figure out my feelings.

      My guess is, the religious dogma verbally drilled into me as a child triggered unreasonable feelings about same sex displays of affection, despite the fact I grew up seeing those same things between my grandparents and other relatives, who were of the opposite sex.  A hug between two people of the same sex never bothered me either, because that was frequent and appropriate in my family.  One step up is a kiss on the cheek, which was also common, but a peck on the lips was a step further and only between an opposite sex couple…  Why?  Why the last if two people love each other?  Given science finding that sexuality may be genetic, then why should it be bothersome with the same scenario of a same sex couple?

      These two men may have kissed each other for show, but the fact they kissed should not be the reason for throwing them out, because if an opposite sex couple kissed, some people would cheer or frown and not throw them out of the rally.  In fact, they might have gone totally unnoticed, as long as they were not doing any heavy petting.  The vary same act, between two people of the opposite sex, might have been frowned upon, but more than likely, they probably would have been told to sit down and very little more.  They would only get thrown out if they continued the behaviour and/or began heavy petting.

      Thus why I don't care what people do, anymore, as long as they aren't harming anyone, both agree, and they aren't having public sex.  However, it is still the young who generally do the shocking and outrageous, in protest or to get attention, but throwing them out, IMO, was actually uncalled for, but then again, if not for that fact, which they knew would happen, they would not have done it.  If people didn't care so much about what same sex couples did, as long as it was in the social norm (like opposite sex couples), they wouldn't have done it.  Throwing them out was, IMO, the wrong move, esp when opposite sex couples would not have been given the same treatment.

  • Sheldon

    We need a president who understands that America is the greatest country in the history of the world and what we’ve done across this country, across this world, it’s not oppress, it’s not invade, we are not invaders, we are not people that seek gain of territory, oil, property.
    'What we seek is security for ourselves and liberty and prosperity for others and it’s nothing to apologize for."
    –
    Ask Latin Americans what they think. Ask Indonesians what they think. Ask Palestinians what they think. Ask Iraqis what they think. Ask Cubans what they think. Ask the citizens of those countries why they scoff and laugh when they hear American politicians talking about democracy and freedom and rights. When you've asked and been answered, then ask your selves this: What freedoms, exactly, have I given away as a result of the "U.S.A. Patriot Act" of 2001 and the subsequent new bills and amendments to existing bills directly relating to the "Patriot Act".

    Think… think about how much more you resemble now, that which you fought against in your struggle for independence from autocracy.

    The bane of every politician, everywhere, is an educated, intelligent and informed voter. Faced with such minds, the politician could not hide his deceit nor disguise his contempt for the common man.

    • Deborah_B

      We need Congresspeople who understand the same thing, on state and federal levels.  The Tea Party dominated houses have created the extremism toward women, the Christian nationalism and so forth we've been seeing in the last two years.