A long and tender kiss between two women in downtown Panama on Friday was a quiet but symbolic message from the LGBT community to the visiting Pope Francis: "We exist!"

Samirah Armengol and her friend Basch Beitia were staging a "kiss-in" with friends in front of landmark Catholic church to draw attention to gay rights during the pope's visit.

"They say it's disrespectful that we kiss in front of a church, but I ask them a question: Why is it not disrespectful when heterosexuals do it? Is it that I am an aberration? We exist!" Armengol, 39, told AFP.

Around 20 protesters around her shouted "Love is love. Love is love!" many of them kissing outside the huge Del Carmen church, symbolic for Panamanians as a gathering point for protests against 1980s dictator Manuel Noriega. Wrapped in the multicolored flag of the LGBT movement, Levis Calderon said that the protesters were seeking "visibility" because "the eyes of the world are on Panama" during the World Youth Day celebrations. "Together as a community, we are saying: We are here," said Calderon, 21. Read more via AFP