Women kicked out of supermarket for kissing

Two women were asked to leave a supermarket after a customer was upset at them kissing. Photo / Thinkstock

Student Annabelle Sacher was shopping at English supermarket chain Sainsbury's when she decided to give her girlfriend a spontaneous peck on the cheek.

Sadly one fellow customer didn't see the "light kiss" as a romantic gesture - and reported the couple to a security guard who allegedly then told them to leave.

The female guard explained that the shopper had complained that the lesbian clinch was "disgusting", and that she was "worried for her child".

Infuriated, the 22-year-old reported the incident to fellow gay rights activists online, declaring that Sainsbury's was guilty of perpetuating a hate crime and that she had a "human right" to kiss in the supermarket.

The row began on Saturday - which was National Coming Out Day - in the Sainsbury's on London Road in Brighton, a town known for its vibrant gay scene.

In a post on gay rights charity Stonewall's Facebook page, Miss Sacher said: "The security guard later apologised, saying that she herself was gay and had simply been asked to speak to us by another customer who found us 'disgusting' and was 'worried for her child'.

"I felt sorry for the guard. 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."

The English literature student at Sussex University in Brighton added: "I am outraged and deeply humiliated by this incident."

Last night a Sainsbury's spokesman said that it had made a full apology, promised similar incidents would not happen again and said it had paid money to a charity of Miss Sacher's choice. The spokesman denied the security guard had told Miss Sacher to leave, and instead asked her to stop kissing, but apologised for her treatment all the same.

"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," the spokesman said.

"We have called her to apologise and will be making a donation to a charity of her choice."

Miss Sacher, who is originally from Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London - where she was brought up by her leading lawyer father Jonathan, 59, and estate agent mother Marla, 55 - said she was delighted with the response. She has since made the supermarket one of her "favourites" on Facebook.

- Daily Mail