Kiss that got pair tossed from Santorum rally meant as disruption

Ben Clifford and Tim Tross showed up at a Rick Santorum campaign stop in Arlington Heights Friday to protest his politics.

They went in for his speech at Christian Liberty Academy because it was open to the public in order to call attention to Santorum's stance opposing gay marriage and figured it should probably end with a kiss, Tross said.

Clifford, 22, of Algonquin, started yelling "mic check" to Santorum as Tross, 20, of Lombard, and two other friends joined the chant. The group was quickly drowned out by a booing crowd, when Tross and Clifford started kissing and then were escorted from the gym. The men, who are not a couple, declined to reveal their sexual orientation for fear it would detract from the broader message criticizing Santorum's stance opposing gay marriage.

Clifford said, in essence, his call was for equal rights for all families.

"He's very openly attempting to oppress anyone with an alternate sexuality," Tross said.

Video footage from the campaign rally shows Santorum, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, interrupted by shouts from Clifford, Tross and their friends. The video then shows the two men kissing before a security guard approaches. The crowd chants, "USA. USA. USA," until Santorum continues his speech.

Clifford remained deeply disturbed by the crowd's reaction Sunday.

"When you think about the consequences of what that means - it's blind rhetoric, blind nationalism," Clifford said. "That's the first tenet of fascism."

After the brief interruption, Santorum continued his speech, saying, "We will stand by the values that made this country the greatest country in the world."

Clifford and Tross met last fall at Chicago Occupy Wall Street protests and have stayed in touch through an activist offshoot called 21 Jump Street. They said their activism goes beyond issues of gay marriage to a wider political involvement.