If you plan to take a Saturday afternoon stroll around Plaza de la Cultura and the Central Avenue pedestrian boulevard tomorrow, don’t be surprised if you see a group of couples kissing in the vicinity of the legendary Soda Chelles.

According to national newspaper La Nacion, a activist group that supports the rights of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered community in Costa Rica will hold the Route of the Diverse Kiss tomorrow in front of Soda Chelles, a centenarian landmark of the capital city that serves the interests of San Jose’s bohemian and night owl crowd.

The group is staging the protest in order to demand an apology from the administration of Soda Chelles. According to a radio interview on ADN Radio 90.7 FM, Paulina Torres and nine other women descended upon Chelles after midnight this past Saturday. Ms. Torres and her girlfriend engaged in public displays of affection that included kissing. The party of ten was summarily dismissed from the establishment, ostensibly due to the kissing couple’s actions.

Unbeknownst to Soda Chelles’ staff, Ms. Torres and the women in her party are part of Beso Diverso (Diverse Kiss), a GLBT righst group that aims to promote equality in public displays of affection by engaging in them. The group has taken to social media to call on their supporters to join them tomorrow in what they hope to be a massive public display of affection.

As the situation unfolds, foreign media outlets have been covering the event, with the Agence France-Presse taking the news to several Latin American outlet, and American GLBT advocacy magazine On Top Media also dedicating space to the planned demonstration by the kissing Ticas.

This is hardly the first time in Costa Rica that a GLBT couple is taken to task for public display of affection. Hand-holding by same-gender couples at places such as bingo and pizza parlors has resulted in dismissals from commercial establishments, exposing traits of a society that not too long ago was deeply mired in conservative beliefs.