The man who made a complaint about a gay couple kissing in a Soho pub has claimed the two men in question engineered a news story out of something that “really didn’t happen”.
The man known only as Gary from Richmond, outlined the reasons for his complaint at the John Snow pub on Wednesday, but has denied it had anything to do with the fact that the couple were gay.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Gary insisted financial journalist Jonathan Williams, 26, and charity worker James Bull, 23, continued to act inappropriately after a barman had asked them to moderate their behaviour following what he describes as a “full-on snog” and “fondling”.
Gary, 57, said: “You’ve gone out for the evening with your wife and you’re having a quiet drink in the pub and the guys on the next table are giving each other a full-on snog and fondling one another in ways that I thought were inappropriate, hence my complaint.” he said.
“I know Soho is a little bit different and you can expect to see a little bit more, but they were asked by the barman to moderate their behaviour, which they didn’t do...I think they are really making a news story out of something that really didn’t happen.”
Gary refuted claims from the public that the complaint was made simply because the couple in question were gay. “I have gay and lesbian friends within both our work situation and our social life,” he said.
The incident became headline news after spreading on social networking site Twitter, sparking a mass gay kiss-in outside the pub on Friday night, which attracted hundreds of protestors.
Mr. Williams refuted claims he was trying to engineer a story. He told the BBC: “I don’t have a story, I happened to be in the spotlight when something bad happened. When I was asked to leave by a barwoman I repeatedly asked her name and she asked me mine. I said ‘Jonathan Williams, I’m a journalist’. At that point I was very angry, I would not have considered taking it further.
He added: “I put it on Twitter, the fact that it is all over Twitter doesn’t have anything to do with me - that is the power of social media. I can’t be held responsible for the fact it was passed on and I can’t be held responsible for the fact that kissing in a pub outrages people.”
Mr. Williams said he and Mr. Bull, who were on their first date, had “stopped kissing for probably a good hour” after being told to moderate their behaviour and said nothing “obscene or untoward” occurred.
Regarding the complainant, Mr. Williams said: “If he was uncomfortable I apologise, but I don’t think there’s anything untoward about kissing in a pub in Soho or anywhere for that matter - but especially in Soho, even if it isn’t a gay pub. It’s the heart of Soho, there shouldn’t be a problem with two men, two women or a straight couple kissing.”
