Mexican Police Release Gay Couple After Crowd Gathers in Support

After a gay couple was handcuffed and detained by police on a Mexican beach "for kissing," a large crowd gathered and demanded the two men be set free.

"Yo soy gay, I'm gay too," the crowd started chanting in a series of videos posted to Facebook. As the crowd grew and refused to step aside, police were eventually forced to release the two men.

Maritza Escalante Morales, who shared the videos on social media, said that she saw the police handcuffing and arresting two men, and when she and others who had gathered asked police why the men were arrested, they replied that it was because they were gay and had kissed on the beach and "there are families and children and they cannot be watching this."

According to LGBTQNation, local police issued a statement saying that the men were not arrested for kissing, but for having oral sex on the beach and "immoral acts and sexual erotic demonstrations, on the road or public places." However, no one on the beach saw the alleged sex, and instead, only saw the men kissing.

Mexico has no laws against homosexulaity, and in 2010, same-sex marriage was legalized in parts of the country and discrimination based on sexual orientation was banned in the constitution the following year. While same-sex marriages are performed in most states in the country, it's been more slowly accepted in some parts of the majority-Catholic nation than others.

"They were not committing any crime, we were by their side, at no time did they do anything wrong, simply by KISSING like any other couple, they wanted to take them," Morales said about the videos. "We all deserve the same treatment, and the corresponding sanctions must be applied to these officers."