A brief kiss between two young men inside one of Bogotá’s most prominent shopping centres has become the centre of a wider debate about discrimination and who is permitted to show affection in public.
Rodri Bastidas and his boyfriend Jhoan Loaiza were eating together in the food court at Centro Comercial Andino on July 19.
After finishing their meal, they decided to record a short TikTok video involving a kiss and a turn toward the camera (infobae).
According to their account, a security guard approached while they were filming and told them that they could not display that kind of affection inside the shopping centre.
The couple said the guard referred to children being nearby and warned that they could be removed if they kissed again.
Rodri and Jhoan said their behaviour consisted of nothing more than an ordinary kiss.
The conversation with the guard was recorded from a distance by another shopper who had witnessed what happened.
She later approached the couple, asked whether they had been subjected to discrimination and shared the recording with them.
The video spread rapidly across social media after Rodri posted it and questioned whether a heterosexual couple would have received the same warning.
Some viewers initially suggested that the encounter had been staged because someone happened to be filming it.
The couple explained that the witness began recording after noticing the security guard approaching them and that she was not involved in their TikTok video.
Centro Comercial Andino opened a review of the incident after the footage attracted widespread criticism.
The mall later concluded that the couple had not engaged in any conduct that justified the security guard’s intervention.
Its management publicly apologized to Rodri and Jhoan and said it had contacted them directly.
The mall also announced that it would review its procedures, examine the conduct of its private security provider and reinforce staff training on inclusion, diversity and respectful treatment.
Securitas Colombia, the company employing the security guard, issued a separate apology.
The company said it had opened an internal investigation and would consider corrective measures once that process had been completed.
Securitas emphasized that dignity, equal treatment and freedom from discrimination were part of its stated institutional policies.
No public finding has yet established the individual guard’s legal responsibility, and the internal investigation remains separate from any criminal process.
Rodri and Jhoan nevertheless decided that an apology should not be the end of the matter.
With assistance from human rights attorney Alejandro Michells, they filed a complaint with Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office alleging discrimination.
The filing asks authorities to investigate what occurred and determine whether anyone committed an offence under Colombian law.
No person has been charged or convicted in connection with the incident.
Bogotá’s Unit Against Discrimination also contacted the couple and offered legal guidance and psychosocial support.
The public response soon moved beyond statements and social media posts.
Activists organized a “besatón,” or kiss-in, at the shopping centre on July 22.
Dozens of LGBTQ+ people, couples, allies and political representatives attended the peaceful demonstration.
Participants kissed, held hands and gathered beneath messages asserting that affection should not be treated differently according to the genders of the people expressing it.
The location carried uncomfortable historical significance because Centro Comercial Andino had faced a similar controversy in 2019.
That earlier incident involved gay couple Esteban Miranda and Nicolás Téllez, who were accused by another visitor of behaving obscenely near children.
Security recordings reportedly contradicted the accusation, while a police citation issued to the couple was later annulled after authorities found problems with the procedure.
Approximately 800 people responded by gathering outside the shopping centre beneath the message that kisses are affection rather than a crime.
Colombia’s Constitutional Court has separately ruled that removing a same-sex couple from a shopping centre because of public affection can constitute discrimination.
The court stated that same-sex and different-sex couples must be treated equally when displaying affection under comparable circumstances.
Colombia’s anti-discrimination law also provides criminal penalties for certain acts that arbitrarily restrict people’s rights because of characteristics including sexual orientation.
Whether the Bogotá incident meets that criminal threshold is now a matter for investigators rather than social media.
The mall’s own conclusion is already much clearer.
Rodri and Jhoan had done nothing that warranted the warning they received.
A kiss does not become more sexual, more dangerous or less appropriate simply because it is shared by two men.
The community’s response offered an equally clear answer by returning to the same location and filling it with the affection that had been challenged.
📷 @rodribastidass / @flwer.jhonxx
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