Jonathan Williams and James Bull - The Guardian Two gay men say they were harassed and thrown out of pub in the heart of London's gay scene for kissing. Jonathan Williams, 26, said he had been enjoying a quiet drink in the John Snow in Soho with his date James Bull when a customer complained about them and they were kicked out. Williams has told So So Gay that during their first drink, a drunken man had asked them politely to stop kissing. He said he politely asked the man, who claimed to be the landlord, to turn away if he was offended. “Later, when we were kissing – not in any confrontational way, but simply on the mouth – a uniformed member of staff approached us. She said she was the publican, but refused to give us her name, or give her name to the people sitting next to us when they asked. She told us we had to leave, to which we replied that we had no intention to. At that point the man who'd first approached us moved the table so he could get to me and grabbed me by the collar of my suit jacket. He obviously intended to throw me out, but was talked down by a third person who claimed to be a plainclothes police officer. “After more arguing, raised voices and our repeatedly asking for the woman's name, we relented when the person claiming to be a plainclothes officer showed me something that looked like a badge. I'm not sure if it was, looking back, but he also gave us what he claimed was his badge number and his name. At that point we left, me shaking with anger and James furious.” Police are investigating. A patron who was seated at the next table, Jamie Morton, told PinkNews.co.uk he too was asked to leave after questioning why the couple were being thrown out. “The woman was really aggressive, shouting at them. It's outrageous, they weren't doing anything wrong. I was shocked.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 15th April 2011 - 9:58am