![gay men kissing contest gay men kissing contest](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/geqjPhhp210l9S4nk0IG_wfVA_Y=/fit-in/1072x0/https://tf-cmsv2-photocontest-smithsonianmag-prod-approved.s3.amazonaws.com/20f54791-9e21-4c9b-ace1-a10e9d52ddd9.jpg)
Attendants swiftly sat the couple down and a nurse took Rojananawin's pulse. She soon answered by ending their embrace. They really have to help each other and support each other."Ī Thai and international soundtrack that included tunes like Sixpence None The Richer's 1997 hit Kiss Me kept couples swaying two nights straight, some barefoot or striking yoga-like poses to keep awake.Ībout 35 hours into the marathon, 37-year-old Preedi Singhajan scribbled a note on a paper tablet to his 51-year-old partner, Rungnapa Rojananawin. "It's not easy to stand there and kiss for that long. "We want to show that love is meaningful and powerful," Somporn said. Participants had to prove they were either married or truly a couple - a letter from both parents or a marriage certificate was acceptable. One woman participating with her boyfriend fainted just half an hour after it began Sunday.ĭespite its reputation for having one of the biggest sex industries in the world, Thailand is still a conservative nation where kissing in public - even a small peck - is frowned upon. The harshest rule: no sitting or sleeping. Any drinks could only be consumed through straws while continuing the kiss, and the couples had to remain embraced during bathroom breaks possible every three hours - accompanied by contest monitors. They won a diamond ring worth 50,000 Thai baht (about $1,600), and a 100,000 baht ($3,200) cash prize.Īccording to the rules, the lovebirds' lips could not part at any time. The winner was announced before dawn Tuesday: a Bangkok couple, Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat. That seven couples apparently did, he said, "is amazing." "We didn't think we would find anybody that could break the record," said Somporn Naksuetrong, the manager of Pattaya's Louis Tussaud's Waxworks museum, which organized the competition.
![gay men kissing contest gay men kissing contest](https://media.kcentv.com/assets/GANNETT/images/29941760-1b2c-4848-ad59-d1604634474a/29941760-1b2c-4848-ad59-d1604634474a_1920x1080.jpg)
Passing tourists gawked, smiled and snapped pictures with glowing mobile phones behind a red rope. By Monday afternoon, half had already beaten the record and were still puckering up on the white-marble corridor of an oceanside shopping mall in Pattaya. The previous record of just over 32 hours was set in 2009 by a couple in Germany, according to Guinness World Records, whose officials will have to verify the latest milestone for it to become official.įourteen couples kicked off the contest at 6 a.m. ((Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters))It was one long kiss - one world-breaking embrace for mankind.Ī determined Thai couple locked lips for 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds to celebrate Valentine's Day in the southern beach resort town of Pattaya, Thailand, emerging victorious after a "kissathon" organizers claim marked the longest recorded smooch in history. As he becomes bolder in his lyrics and creative vision, Lil Nas X begins to transcend confines of "The Gay Rapper" stereotype, carving out space for himself as an unapologetic messiah for today's young, queer generation.Participants Akekachai Tiranarat, 42, and his wife Raksana Taranarat, 31, kiss on their way to winning an event billed as the world's longest continuous kiss in Pattaya, 150 km east of Bangkok on Monday. However, when considering Lil Nas X's career path, Montero State Prison is a setting that mirrors reality as he is repeatedly criticized by evangelical Christians and Twitter trolls alike for elevating gay representation - particularly for the prison's namesake, his last single " MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" - it's understandable Lil Nas X would consider homophobia a prison, claustrophobic and imposing, especially in the music industry. Because of structural violence inherent in this country's carceral system, positioning the institution as a gay utopia is a risky choice. The song is one of his best, but its real power comes from the accompanying, highly-stylized video wherein Lil Nas X breaks out of a prison populated with Black gay men (and, for an unspecified reason, Jack Harlow in an unseemly role as the Straight White Savior who delivers a verse that is mid at best and inappropriate at worst). His latest single, "INDUSTRY BABY," is an exercise in braggadocio a triumphant, horn-driven beat from Kanye West and Take A Daytrip backs up bars like "Couple Grammys on him, couple plaques," altogether crowning the "Old Town Road'' hitmaker king of the rap-pop crossover throne. Lil Nas X is unprecedented: he emerged from the depths of stan Twitter to take over the pop charts, all the while growing as an unabashedly gay rapper.