From Pink News:

Jonathan Williams, 26, and Jamie Bull, 23, were on a first date in the [John Snow] pub on Wednesday night when a woman claiming to be the landlady allegedly ordered them to leave.

The couple say they were kicked out for quietly kissing in a corner and witnesses backed up their claims. Mr Williams vented his frustration on Twitter and supporters quickly began to organise a protest.

More than 400 people have pledged to join tonight’s demonstration, while 600 say they will attend a similar protest at the pub next Wednesday,

Actually, the Facebook event page now has over 750 people attending.

Update: Apparently the John Snow pub has closed its doors and is not letting any more customers in.

Update: The John Snow is still closed, but after nearly reaching 1,000 attendees on Facebook the event has made the BBC national news.

UPDATE: Written by Richard Metzger 04/16/11 Hey Facebook: What’s SO wrong about a pic of two men kissing?

 
This is perplexing. And annoying. And infuriating.

I woke up this morning to an email from Facebook with the subject “Facebook Warning”:

“Hello,

Content that you shared on Facebook has been removed because it violated Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Shares that contain nudity, or any kind of graphic or sexually suggestive content, are not permitted on Facebook.

This message serves as a warning. Additional violations may result in the termination of your account. Please read the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities carefully and refrain from posting abusive material in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

The Facebook Team”

Ah…yeah… it seems that the sight of two fully-clothed men kissing was too much for Facebook, or too much for some closet-case asshole (Hi Jerry! Remind me why you and I are “friends” again? I sure didn’t ask to be yours, pal…) who complained about it. The photo appeared here on Dangerous Minds in the context of Niall’s post about the “kiss in” demonstration that was cooked up, ironically ON FACEBOOK ITSELF, in London to protest against the rude treatment two gay patrons experienced at a pub called The John Snow. The two men, Jonathan Williams, 26, and Jamie Bull, 23 were sitting in a corner kissing when the owner asked them to leave. Over 750 people signed up for the protest.

Oh, WAIT A MINUTE, I went to check on the Facebook page that organized The John Snow pub protest... and it’s gone, too.

WTF, FB?

I’ve written to Facebook asking them why this content was removed, but have at this point received no reply. I’ll update this post when I do. In the meantime, why not share this photo on FB as much as you can? I’m hoping they’ll restore the post as it was so everyone can pile on the jerk who wrote all the homophobic stuff on my FB wall. I think that’s the best outcome here, Jerry getting a taste of his own medicine…

In any case, the protest went off last night against The John Snow pub, with protesters chanting “We’re here, we’re queer and we won’t buy your beer.” You can see the BBC News report here.

Thank you and have a great weekend. Join Dangerous Minds on Facebook.

(Thanks for this, Robyn Webb!)