Straight guys pash away homophobia

If Peter Madden decides to carry out his threat of making his Mardi Gras counter-protest an annual event he can expect to face his worst nightmare — straight guys kissing straight guys and straight girls kissing straight girls.

Only hours before Madden, the Christian Democratic Party’s candidate for Sydney in the state election, held his protest against the Mardi Gras parade, Martin Place was the venue for what was probably the biggest heterosexual same-sex snogfest in Sydney’s history.

Close to 200 people watched as around 20 straight guys and girls paired off like to like, puckered up and went for it.

The One Love Love-In was organised by Channel V host and DJ Danny Clayton after he saw Madden’s YouTube video promoting his protest.

“I’d only just woken up when I came across Peter Madden’s video and was overwhelmed with such a fiery anger that I impulsively made a reply video and started what I thought would be just a small event on Facebook,” Clayton told the Star Observer.

“The response was explosive — 2500 people joined the Facebook page in just a couple of weeks and we had messages of support from not only all around Australia but all around the world. I guess that spurred me on to make the event a success.”

Clayton said he’d been surprised by the blokeyness of some of the guys who’d come forward to take part in the pash.

“The way they spoke about it was really funny. They’d say, ‘Hey mate, we’re really excited to support your cause’. But at the same time they’d be really intent on telling me how straight they were. To have those kinds of guys come down and participate was one of the bigger victories for me.”

Clayton, who is heterosexual and was named one of Cleo’s 50 most eligible bachelors in 2009, said he had his first ever ‘guy kiss’ at the Love-In.

“It was interesting to say the least,” he said.

“It was a lot furrier than I expected. It didn’t help that the mate I kissed had a gigantic moustache but it was relatively painless. It was okay, it was good.”

Clayton said if Madden makes his protest annual, he will make the One Love Love-In annual too.

“If he wants to bring people to huddle underneath a flag of anger and hatred, I’m going to bring people to unite under a banner of love,” Clayton said.

Photo: Nikki To