Urban Outfitters’ Same-Sex Kiss

One Million Moms is up in arms over some sisterly affection in a new catalog

Courtesy of Urban Outfitters

When is a kiss just a kiss?

One Million Moms, the same anti-gay group that went after JC Penney earlier this year when the longtime retailer tapped Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson during a massive rebranding blitz, is also hitting hard against Philly-based Urban Outfitters. And it’s all because a photo of two women kissing in the newest catalog.

It’s no secret that we love us some same-sex smooching – especially when it includes LGBT folks in pop culture (hey, we shop at Urban Outfitters, too!), but the photo that’s causing the Million Mom’s uproar is hardly scandalous. In fact, we couldn’t tell if they were lesbians – or kissing cousins.

But the group – which has been exposed for having a membership much, much less than a million – says in its alert: “On page two of this catalog is a picture of two women kissing in a face holding embrace!”

They also call for parents to unsubscribe to the catalog and contact Urban Outfitters about the photo. “Tell them you will also no longer shop at their stores if you hear this type of advertising continues,” says the alert. “The content is offensive and inappropriate for a teen who is the company’s target customer.”

Target customer? Guess they never heard of the gay dollar. They must have also missed those Robert Mapplethorpe tees that the retailer was selling this season (yep, we bought one).

And while Urban has received mixed reviews for its treatment of LGBT issues – on one hand they sold tees touting same-sex marriage and on the other, they also sold a card that poked fun at transgender people – and the company president admitted donating money to Rick Santorum years ago (why, Richard Hayne, why?) we’d like to think the same-sex kiss is a step in the right direction.

Because as much as the One Million Moms (or however many of them there are) think that their values somehow trump LGBT visibility, we would encourage the community and its allies to voice support for smart same-sex representations in the mainstream. Plus, it makes shopping for that new killer top for summer that much more rewarding.