A lesbian couple was kicked out of a store after sharing a "light cheek kiss" on Friday.
The couple was shopping at a local supermarket called Sainsbury's in Brighton, England when Annabelle Sacher, 22, decided to give her girlfriend a spontaneous peck on the cheek.
A nearby customer told a security guard she was uncomfortable with their behavior, calling it "disgusting" and adding that she was "worried for her child" to be witnessing their kiss, reports Mirror. The female guard proceeded to ask the couple to leave.
"I felt sorry for the guard," Sacher said in a statement. "However, the fact is that she perpetrated a hate crime on behalf of Sainsbury's. My partner and myself should not have been made to feel humiliated simply because we were two women. It is our legal and human right to express ourselves and today Sainsbury's took that right away and made me feel like a lesser human being."
After the incident, the supermarket offered an apology to The Times:
"This should never have happened - it is clear that she and her partner were not behaving inappropriately and we are very sorry that they were treated in this way. We have called her to apologise and will be making a donation to a charity of her choice."
The incident ironically happened on Oct. 11, which is National Coming Out Day in London. All day long, supporters were posting on Stonewall's, a gay rights charity, Facebook page in support of same-sex couples. Sacher shared her story with other supporters on the Facebook page after the incident.
Sacher tells The Times, "I get that if another customer is uncomfortable that's a bad thing ... but the problem is the other customer was in the wrong and essentially being homophobic. The guard didn't seem to understand that, I was absolutely humiliated."
