New York City is so much more than the people chosen here, carefully selected for the approved narrative. Check the boxes of this or that racial or sexual minority and pander to the perceived readership. But look in vain for Queens or Staten Island homeowner couples who are not out at 2 AM and not lip-locking lasciviously in public. Don't they love each other often deeply? Eh, they're not hip or even mildly transgressive. Besides, they are disdained by the activist crowd with their made up terms like "cisgender" Ah, but they are ordinary. They've raised families, albeit just boring heterosexual ones. They are traditional and the NYT Magazine of yesterdays which once did "A" list interviews and stories on great issues of our time, must now establish its utter hipness, avant-garde centeredness and mildly risqué sense of "journalism". It's this kind of world-view that sends vast swaths of our troubled country into the arms of Trump and his kind.

Good grief. How u-t-t-e-r-l-y boring. In short, isn't it amazing how such a "deep" premise can quickly prove to be so shallow.

Loved this issue! Just loved it! Reminds me of journalistic firsts I used to follow when I was younger. I thought it was great, eye opening.....just wonderful and so joyful. Thank you for making me smile

8.5 million people in New York City and an Asian couple is not featured here.

The NYC area, sadly, gave us Don, Rudy and Christie. These bigots and haters got kicked upstairs to national prominence. This story is merely a cover up for the reality we now share. The president is on tape talking about how he gets to grab women. Misogynist Rudy, only recently, insults Stormy Daniels as a way to offer cover to our bigly sad president. My niece who spent a couple of years in Brooklyn describes NYC as the most alpha male place you can ever imagine. And...we know how alpha males act, esp when it comes to "love" and the treatment of women.

A nauseating display. Shame on NYT for publishing this. Sex is intimate behavior which should be private. Those who perform it in public are exhibitionists and those who watch it are voyeurs. Get a room.

Absolutely Great! As a born and raised New Yorker who has since moved to different cities around the world, there is no place like New York, and no people like New Yorkers. I still get to the city when I can, and I'm always energized being there. Last visit I roamed around with my 5 year old grand daughter. After one tour she was hooked. "Let's go to some more parks." She loved it too.

This is an intriguing issue: it has a wide-ranging focus with differing couples, doing things we can all relate too, shown through great photography, guided by Ryan McGinley, with other excellent fine art photographers Matthew Pillsbury, Alec Soth, Gillian Laub, Elinor Carucci and others. Such a great idea.

Can't you stick to love and romance? Getting naked in front of strangers and semi-naked clubs are such a turnoff. Love/romance and horniness have little to do with each other. I am sick of fifty shades, etc.More Me-too please.

New York is probably the singularly least romantic city on the planet. Here it is all about money, nothing else. Ask anyone.

I appreciate the scope of this project, but why is all the photography so grim looking? I realize this photojournalistic style is popular, and maybe considered more "real," but why does every shot have to make people and their surroundings look dark, dreary and depressing? The photographer even made the Indian wedding look depressing! Those women got all dressed up for the royal wedding, and then the shot you use has their faces blown out.

I appreciate the need to talk about love in these times of hate. However, I would caution against overly glamorizing this need especially in the descriptions of parties and club dance workers. STDs are on the rise in the USA. If we are going to have this discussion, it should be followed by a critical discussion about safe sex practices and sex education. Otherwise, any kind of love will surely end in physical, emotional and psychological disappointment. Also, please let us not cover up the kinds of abuse that may very well be happening at such parties by masking them with some lustful language and imagery.

Omg, what a lovely piece! The intimacy and vulnerability that it showcased was so beautiful. Great job! Also, I appreciated the almost 'too close for comfort.' It's something different. It's that closeness that makes us human but is also what we tend to shy away from. Loved it.

Thank you NYT for this poignant piece. Keep them coming. Pieces like this make me proud to subscribe the Times. Great photography (Alec Sloth, Jack Davison and Peter van Agtmael..wow)

surprised that many New Yorkers got off their cell phones long enough to kiss

Oh, how sweet. However, isn't all this kissing and tonguing and salival outpouring just a wee bit too close for viewing comfort?

What a wonderful photo essay! Poignant, exciting, and beautiful. Huzzah!

Great photos! A kiss photograph in Shower Style! People in Naked In Motion! (though it's says the participants are nude but a woman is not - why the false advertisement?) House Of Yes! Thanks!

I have to hand it to the New York Times with this one. At a time when young people depend on their podcasts for entertainment and news rather than sit down and read newspapers, this story is very bold and very creative. I have always wanted to live in New York and have a fabulous love affair there. I think it would be terribly exciting and romantic, falling love in the "Apple." I like the way the NYT comes up with such creative and interesting ideas, constantly reinventing itself while delivering first-rate daily news coverage. With all the nasty Trump news every single day, we need more creativity to survive.

I am not into sex much these days. I feel a lot more free than I ever have. I also think sex and lust can shine a light on the places we carry around wounds about.... and where we can heal and become more whole. I could say a lot more (just did but erased it!!!...) so this is just a short, very incomplete thought, with lots more that could be said (and which I am sure you are right about too.) Peace and love and happiness to all.

All of those great stories - but in all of NYC, you couldn't find a gay couple to feature? And yes, I saw the same-sex kissing pics. But you'd have to linger on the first image to notice them. Interesting choice for the NYT.

Loved this piece!!

NEW YORK May well be the Love city. But only Philly is the LOVE city. And we've got the sculpture to prove it, if not the smoochers. We've got another qualification here in Phlily. Our Benjamin Franklin Parkway was designed by Hausmann, who's the guy who designed the Champs Elysees in Paris. In fact, Philly has been likened to Paris for that reason. Given the great popularity of sidewalk cafes since the ban on outdoor restaurants was lifted, has given Philly a more cosmopolitan air. Though with some distinct differences. The scent of Paris's particular, peculiar perfume used to be distinguished by three things: the scent of fresh bread from all the neighborhood boulangeries; diesel fumes; and the nostalgic, but acrid, funky, evocative, but nonetheless aromatic smoke of the once emblematic French cigarettes made with black tobacco, the notorious, famous or infamous and curiously popular gitanes galoises. Europeans are smoking far less than they used to, as it is banned in public places. As if the Parisians would notice, acknowledging the law with a shrug of the shoulders, a puff air that briefly inflates the cheeks, accompanied by the sound Baffffff (or not). While Paris may well have retained its status as la ville lumiere, so named when its lights were electrified, we in Philly are nonetheless kissin' cousins. 'Cause we gots de Luuuuuuv!' (Statue that is.) I dare the Parisians to put a knock-off in one of their plazas!

Absolutely wonderful in a very New York way. Thank you to all who worked on this idea to make it touch our hearts and to remind us there's nothing like a passionate kiss with someone dearly loved. Nothing.

How did the Times make the decision to run this feature? Is there a sense the readers have a keen interest in the sexual mores of NYC residents? Did you wish to shock us readers in the Heartland with stories of Sodom and Gomorrah on the Hudson? Is this perceived as news? Do you think that it will be deemed prize worthy by some group who promotes non-traditional behavior? Is it just click bait for voyeurs? Or an effort by the Times to further define normalcy down? I am genuinely curious. I hope someone from the Times will respond.

Thank you for presenting this large LOVE project. With all of the rot that your pages dutifully chronicle on a daily basis, it is uplifting to see photos and stories of love. Interestingly, these "ordinary" people come across as much richer than the celebrities and titans of industry whose names we all know. Thanks for telling us these stories. More like this please!

My wife and I are unexpectedly in a LOVE CITY,in small Floridian town.She entered with Alzheimers.I qualified for rehabilataionwith Parkinsonism and loss of ambulation.We were recceived wth professionalism,positivity for recovery,in part or whole, and LOVE.As a physician unfamiliar rehab medicine,I was astonished that could get better with authentic love, without lust,grief,or the end of civilization. We have learned, once again, that when all else fails,try reading the instructions!!

Love the playfulness, and honesty of this piece. It's about time people saw love in all its different shapes, sizes, and versions. Intimacy and sex aren't something to be overshadowed by judgement and labels. Beautiful.