THE MANAGEMENT of Dundrum Town Centre have denied they asked a couple who were kissing in public to leave the premises because they were gay.

Two volunteers with the non-profit radio station OpenFM were kissing on Friday when they were approached by security and asked to leave the centre.

The station said that when one of the couple asked if they would have been approached if they were straight, they were told: “It’s policy.”

The incident sparked a storm on the station’s Facebook page with many complaining that the couple had been discriminated against based on their sexuality.

The centre later tweeted that…

Couples being overly intimate in public areas at @DundrumTC are treated equally regardless of sexuality, nationality or creed.

…and later issued a longer statement in which it said that the security officer approached the couple and asked them to tone down their behaviour, before noticing that the couple were both male.

In the past Dundrum Town Centre has on occasions received complaints from parents where they believed couples were being intimate in view of their children.

In this particular instance the couple were asked to refrain from being intimate in the public area but were advised that they would be welcome to avail of the open public spaces but were respectfully requested to be mindful of any children in the vicinity.

Following discussion with the security officer the couple approached the Customer Service Desk, once the Duty Manager explained to the couple the centre’s concerns the couple acknowledged Dundrum Town Centre’s position.

Dundrum Town Centre welcomes all visitors to its facility, nationality, creed or any other factor do not influence Dundrum Town Centre whatsoever and we continue to welcome all visitors to the Centre.

The station has since deleted the original post from its Facebook wall, and said that one of the couple wanted “to apologise for letting this personal issue upset the community.”