A gay couple in Tulum, Mexico were handcuffed and detained after police saw them kiss on the beach. Police said the couple couldn’t kiss on the beach because there were children present. The couple were released after a large crowd gathered protesting the couple’s detention. A video of the arrest went viral this week on social media.
Wrote witness Maritza Escalante Morales, delegate of Municipal de Mujeres en Movimiento Tulum de Movimiento Ciudadano, in a statement attached to a Facebook video of the detention: “I want to file a PUBLIC COMPLAINT, because the treatment and type of authorities we have in our municipality is inexcusable. Yesterday while I was on the beach with my family, we noticed around 4:30 that 2 police squads in their ATVs approached a group of young foreigners. After about 20 minutes, a patrol arrived and proceeded to arrest them with handcuffs. Observing what happened, I then approached and to my surprise, and that of many who had approached, the ‘reason’ for their arrest was because they were GAYS and they had KISSED.”
“The policemen were VIOLENT,” Morales added, “and gave arguments such as ‘there are families and children and they cannot be seeing this.’ They were forced into the patrol vehicle and police would not let them go. All of us who were gathered were upset at seeing the situation, and no matter how much we told them that they were not committing any crime, they would not release them. A short time later they were released. THEY WERE NOT COMMITTING ANY CRIME. We were by their side. At no time did they do anything wrong. Simply because they KISSED like any other couple, they wanted to take them. I am FURIOUS because it is not possible that in the XXI century this type of oppression against the LGBT+ community continues. We all deserve the same treatment, and appropriate sanctions must be applied to these authorities.”
