UPDATE: 4/19/2001 Read Richard Metzger: How I, a married, middle-aged man, became an accidental spokesperson for gay rights overnight on Boing Boing 
 
 It’s time to clarify a few details about the controversial “Hey Facebook what’s SO wrong with a pic of two men kissing?” story, as it now beginning to be reported in the mainstream media, and not always correctly. 
 
 First of all, with regards to the picture: 
 
 The photo which was used to illustrate my first post about the John Snow Kiss-In is a promotional still from the British soap opera “Eastenders.” It features one of the main characters from the show (Christian Clarke, played by the actor John Partridge- left) and someone else who I don’t know. I am not a regular viewer so I can’t say if the man on the right is an extra or an actual character. 
 
 This picture has itself caused scandal in the UK, as it was a gay kiss that was broadcast before the watershed, and as such led to a number of complaints to the BBC. However, since this episode aired (October 2008) Christian now has a boyfriend and a few more gay kisses have taken place. 
 
 In relation to the John Snow Kiss-In event, I used this particular photo because I considered it to be quite mild (no groping, no tongues). The photos I had considered using before I chose that one are much more racy. Oh the irony! 
 
 Secondly, the removal of the Facebook John Snow Kiss-In event: 
 
 It turns out that the Facebook event for the John Snow Kiss-In was not blocked by Facebook, but made private by the creator of the event itself. Paul Shetler, the organizer, left this comment on the previous thread: 
 
 “Hey I just saw this. Before it goes too far, I just want people to know that FB have NOT removed the kiss-in event page; it’s still there, but _I made the event private after the event_ was over and only visible to those who had been invited as there were starting to be trolls posting abusive nonsense on it.” 
 
 Thanks for clearing that up, Paul. Now if Facebook will only reply to Richard’s query about why they removed my original post and photo when he put it up on his wall… 
 
 It has been erroneously reported in the media that our own Richard Metzger (who lives in Los Angeles) organized the London “Kiss-In” event, which is untrue, and also unfair to Paul Shetler and the actual organizers. Also, Richard did not state in his post that Facebook HAD taken the event page down, he just questioned IF this was the case and IF there was a connection with MY post about the event being removed from his own wall. This seems to have confused some people. 
 
 Here is a report on the John Snow Kiss-In from the Guardian, featuring an interview with Mr Shetler: ||||| || News || 
 
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 UPDATED: A photo of two men kissing that was posted on a Facebook page protesting a London pub’s decision to eject a same-sex couple for kissing has been removed by the social networking site, an error, according to a rep for the company. 
 
 
 
 "The photo in question does not violate our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and was removed in error," the statement, obtained by America Blog, says. We apologize for the inconvenience" 
 
 
 
 The Dangerous Minds Facebook page was set up to promote a “gay kiss-in” demonstration in London to protest the pub. The page used a photo of two men kissing to promote the event. 
 
 According to NYULocal.com, the photo was quickly removed and the following e-mail was sent to administrators of the Facebook page: “Shares that contain nudity, or any kind of graphic or sexually suggestive content, are not permitted on Facebook.” 
 
 
 
 The decision to remove the photo has prompted scores of people to post their own pictures of same-sex couples kissing in protest — dozens in the last few hours alone. ||||| Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency 
 
 Two days after hundreds of thousands of people packed Chick-fil-A restaurants to demonstrate their support for the fast-food chain’s position against gay rights, supporters of same-sex marriage staged what they called a “kiss-in” on Friday at locations across the country. 
 
 As part of National Same-Sex Kiss Day, more than 14,000 people had signed up for the event on Facebook, which encouraged couples to visit one of the restaurants and photograph themselves kissing. 
 
 While some shared their photos on Twitter and Facebook, others submitted them to a Tumblr page set up for the event. 
 
 In one photo on Tumblr, a young man is pictured with a woman. He said he took his mother to Chick-fil-A because his boyfriend was out of town. 
 
 While the kiss-ins were planned mostly for Friday night, there were some smaller protests and kiss-ins at restaurants earlier in the day. 
 
 In Decatur, Ga., about two dozen protesters, including families with small children, showed up at a Chick-fil-A at lunchtime, some with bags of McDonald’s food. 
 
 The restaurant did a steady business as the protesters stood outside, getting supportive honks from passing motorists and waving rainbow flags and signs with slogans like, “We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not eating,” and “Eat Mor Equality.” 
 
 Most of the customers said in interviews that they supported gay rights, but that they did not think the food chain’s opposition to same-sex marriage prohibited them from eating at Chick-fil-A. The demonstrators made it clear that they were not protesting local Chick-fil-A employees, who offered free lemonade that the protesters declined to take. 
 
 Phil Skinner/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press 
 
 Among those gathered outside was Marci Alt, who runs a production company that publishes the Gay Community Yellow Pages in Atlanta. Ms. Alt, who was at the protest with her partner, Marlysa Alt, has started a petition on Change.org that invited the restaurant’s president, Dan T. Cathy, to have dinner with her and her family. 
 
 “I make great matzo ball soup,” said Marci Alt, who said she wanted to ask Mr. Cathy whether he really thinks “that we are not the same kind of normal family as you and your wife?” 
 
 Ms. Alt said she was surprised by how many people showed up to support Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. 
 
 Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, used his television show and Facebook to help organize what he called “appreciation day.” He asked people to show up on Wednesday after gay-rights advocates had called for a boycott of the chain because of the millions the company has donated to organizations that are lobbying against laws allowing same-sex marriage, and after remarks from Mr. Cathy, who said that the biblical view of marriage should be upheld. 
 
 Ms. Alt said she believes that many of those who showed up on Wednesday were unaware of how the company uses its money to support groups that lobby against gay rights. 
 
 “A lot of those same people have gay daughters, gay sons, gay parents,” she said. “Knowing that my money is going to be used to oppose gay marriage — I can’t choose that.” 
 
 Throughout the day, people shared photos of kisses being exchanged at Chick-fil-A, as part of the kiss-in event, on Twitter and other social networking sites. 
 
 Jimmy and Sebastion take a moment to kiss at the Lindbergh Chick-fil-A as part of national kiss-in day. #chickfilA //t.co/tMJeaRxB — dyanabagby (@dyanabagby) 3 Aug 12 
 
 Instead of heading to a restaurant to share their kiss, Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers from Atlanta wrote a song about why they were no longer going to eat the chicken sandwiches and waffle fries they love, and performed it in a YouTube video. 
 
 On Twitter, some people openly displayed their disdain for the kiss-in, including a state legislator from Rhode Island, Representative Daniel P. Gordon Jr. who posted this with the hashtag, #protip: 
 
 A ‘kiss-in’ at Chick-Fil-A? You really think that’s going to help your cause? No one wants to see a mass of anyone mugging-up. #ProTip — Rep. Dan Gordon (@Rep_DanGordon) 3 Aug 12 
 
 The overflowing conversation over Chick-fil-A on social media platforms in recent days reveals strong feelings on both sides of the debate. 
 
 An Arizona man, Adam Smith, lost his job as an executive for a medical firm after he posted a video online of his encounter with a Chick-fil-A employee at a drive-up window on Wednesday. He taped the conversation with the employee, who did not lose her composure as he told her that he did not know how she could “live with herself” working for a company that gives money to hate groups. 
 
 In California, employees at a Chick-fil-A in Torrance found graffiti when they arrived to work on Friday. 
 
 Reuters 
 
 The company has not been discussing the boycott or the appreciation day organized by Mr. Huckabee. In a brief statement on Friday, Steve Robinson, the executive vice president of marketing for the chain, said: “At Chick-fil-A, we appreciate all of our customers and are glad to serve them at any time. Our goal is simple: To provide great food, genuine hospitality and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.” 
 
 Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said that people have every right to speak up against Chick-fil-A. 
 
 “As a private company, Chick-fil-A has every right to alienate as many customers as they want,” he said in a statement. “But consumers and communities have every right to speak up when a company’s president accuses them of ‘inviting God’s wrath’ by treating their L.G.B.T. friends, neighbors and family members with respect.” 
 
 Many online have been talking about how they are finding comments about the controversy over Chick-fil-A disheartening. 
 
 On Wednesday night, a Texas man posted on Facebook that he was going to unfriend all of the people who shared photos of their chicken sandwiches, as he said they didn’t understand how hurtful it was to him, a gay man, to see those photos in his news feed. 
 
 A woman from Kentucky wrote on her Facebook page Friday night:
– It turns out Facebook is only guilty of about half of what it’s been accused of in the gay kiss incident. The social networking site apologized yesterday for taking down an image used to promote a “kiss-in” event in London. “The photo in question does not violate our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and was removed in error,” the site said in a statement, according to the Advocate. But Facebook did not, as has been reported in several places, take down the kiss-in event itself. Here’s what happened: The photo Facebook took down was posted by the Dangerous Minds blog to promote the event. In its initial write-up about the incident, the blog observed that the page organizing the protest had been taken down. But it was actually the organizer himself who "removed" the event, Dangerous Minds clarified. Organizer Paul Shetler explains that he decided to switch it from a public event to a private one, as "there were starting to be trolls posting abusive nonsense on it."