Taco Chain Boots Men for Gay Kiss

A group of men in El Paso, Texas, say that security guards and a local police officer discriminated against them last month by forcing them to leave a taco restaurant because of a gay kiss, reports KVIA-TV .

Carlos Diaz de Leon and four friends were at a Chico's Tacos restaurant -- a popular local chain -- in Montwood for dinner late on June 26 when security guards at the establishment noticed two of the men kissing and said the behavior meant they would have to leave. De Leon called the police, who sided with the security guards, citing a state law against homosexual activity that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.

Section 21.06 of the Texas penal code, which was overturned by the high court, said a person commits an offense if he or she engages in "deviant sexual intercourse" with a person of the same sex. De Leon said his two male friends briefly kissed on the lips. El Paso passed an antidiscrimination ordinance with protections for sexual orientation in 2003.

An El Paso police spokesman told KVIA-TV that the responding officer was a rookie who misinterpreted the law. De Leon and his friends filed a complaint with the police department's internal affairs unit this week.

The security firm, All American International Security, stood by the actions of its guards, saying that the men were being "loud and rowdy." Chico's Tacos owner Bernie Mora denied that his restaurant discriminates. "We are here to sell tacos, not to offend anyone," he told KVIA-TV.

Protests were planned at the Chico's Tacos location on Thursday night and Friday afternoon.