[KathieK]

I was one of the people in Hartford that hugged a member of the Free hug Alliance. But could I caution you a bit?
First of all, we need to be respectful of each other's personal space. Some people are huggers and others are not.
We need to remember that some people have medical conditions that prevent them from wanting to be hugged. It could hurt someone to hug them.
We also encourage our FIRSTers not to show PDA.

Keeping this in mind, offering free hugs to people may be fine. Hugging people without their permission is definitely not OK.