Which is entirely reasonable - each country has different attitudes about what is appropriate public behavior, and what isn't. What I found odd about this case was that the evidence was pretty minimal, "The pair's defence lawyers said the woman - who did not appear in court - had not seen the kiss herself, but had been told by her two-year-old child that the girl had seen them kissing." - I think this was probably related to the fact that they were consuming illegal alcohol as well.
And it's entirely reasonable for cowkingdeluxe to be critical of a country where "you go to jail for a month for kissing in public". You can validly hold a negative opinion about some "attitudes about what is appropriate public behavior".
You can take political correctness and cultural relativism too far: this attitude about what is appropriate public behavior, taking into consideration the other behaviors that are considered (in)appropriate in concordance with it, is just awful and can't change soon enough.
Can you explain your position a bit more? I mean, its illegal to go around nude in the United States and I'm not sure how banning public kissing is objectively any worse than that. You can say that local laws should reflect what the local culture finds acceptable in public, in which case both sets of laws are fine, or you can say that everyone should be really liberal in what they accept in public, in which case both laws are bad, but I'm not seeing why you would only object another countries laws against kissing in public.
In the united states, there are places where you would think that it was "nudity" that was illegal, when it fact it's public indecency/lewdness that is illegal. That is, it's the "intent" - I have run into naked people in San Francisco (Bay to Breakers being an obvious example, but numerous protest/art/just-being-social examples) as well. And, from time to time, I see naked people protesting in Berkeley who don't seem to get arrested that quickly (if at all).
I have zero problems with public nudity, but, I also have zero problems with laws against outright public displays of affection (PDAs) - hell, for that matter, when I go to burning man, there's lots of environments where you trip across balls-out sexual-activity - and I don't recall being particularly offended (or even shocked after the first couple times). So, I do believe it's a lot about social-relativsm, and defining what the norm should be. Depending on where you are, any of these activities (kissing, nudity, intercourse) may be considered lewd/indecent - and I don't usually judge/disapprove of a society that makes any of these activities illegal.
I do think it's important (and I do judge cultures) as to whether they clearly establish what the laws are, and that they uphold a certain level of evidence before finding someone guilty. I also think you should have the opportunity to confront your accuser. So - No problem with Dubai outlawing public kissing, but, I do have a lot of problems with the way the approach to the law went in this case (2 year old child's testimony of a third-party event, and the mother of the child/child didn't even show up at the trial)
It's a false bifurcation to present only "local laws should reflect what the local culture finds acceptable in public", and "everyone should be really liberal in what they accept in public" as valid choices.
My position is simple: people are happier in countries where kissing in public is allowed. People have become happier in countries where things like kissing in public have become allowed.
Things like enlightenment, separation of church and state, democracy and checks and balances result in countries where people are generally happier and more free. That has been experimentally verified in a number of countries over the past few hundred years. Some sets of ethical beliefs produce results that are deemed better, even by those that object to part or all of those beliefs.
Cultural relativism cannot and must not be used to excuse repressive behavior.
