Gay Couple Detained After Kissing On Plaza Owned By Mormon Church

SALT LAKE CITY — A gay couple say they were detained by security guards on a plaza owned by the Mormon church and later cited by police, claiming it stemmed from a kiss on the cheek.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that the men became argumentative and refused to leave after being asked to stop their "inappropriate behavior." The men say they were targeted because they are gay.

Matt Aune said he and his partner, Derek Jones, were walking home from a concert nearby on Thursday night, cutting through the plaza near the Salt Lake City Mormon temple.

Aune, 28, said he gave Jones, 25, a hug and kiss and that the two were then approached by a security guard, who asked them to leave, telling them they were being inappropriate and that public displays of affection aren't allowed on the property. He said other guards arrived and the men were handcuffed.

"We asked what we were doing wrong," Aune told The Associated Press.

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said in a statement Friday that the men were "politely asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior _ just as any other couple would have been."

"They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property," she said. The church did not immediately respond to a request for more comment.

Police later arrived and both men were cited with misdemeanor trespassing, Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Robin Snyder said.

"It doesn't matter what they were asked to leave for," Snyder said. "If they are asked to leave and don't they are ... trespassing."

The church has been the target of protests over its support of a ban on gay marriage in California.

Comments

[4 Real]

If a heterosexual couple did the same thing, I cannot imagine anyone objecting. They may claim they don't approve of any displays of affection but that's just an excuse to bay bash and everyone knows it.
I would hope some sympathetic straights take this opportunity to test this rule and start kissing on the premises. Can you imagine straights getting asked to leave?

[4 Real]

oops! "gay not bay"

[RCHouck]

Allies and others who think that this incident crossed the line are doing a "Kiss-In" today on the Plaza.

[OliverTwist]

Good idea.

It is possible that it was not a peck on the cheek. People have been known to lie. But maybe it was.

I am inclined to believe that something drew the attention of the security people and that it wasn't some kind of gaydar.

[adoantarel]

Some gays are not tought to spot, and I say that as a gay man. For all we know, the men were holding hands as they walked into the area. There are lots of reasons "security" might have targeted them before they even kissed.


By the way, why does a church have a security force standing guard? I don't remember seeing security around other church grounds.

[gschear]

LDSpac needs taxed. Of course so does every other superstition.

[probo]

Absolutely! They are trying to take us back to the stone age, very similar to the Taliban.Religions were given tax exempt to help people, they are abusing people.

[CigarGod]

I always get a warm feeling when advanced humans speak up.

[YoMama]

People need to start tweaking them on a daily basis without doing anything that technically violates their rules. Wander through with an unlit cigarette in your hand (and when confronted, truthfully protest that you have no matches or lighter in your possession). Wear t-shirts with misspelled, ambiguously pro-Mormon messages (e.g., "Mormons are NOT stoopid" or "Mormonism is NOT a cult"). Congregate with large groups of black friends (and really linger). Coordinate with groups of people to enter casually at different entry points, engaging in such tweaks as these so that the guards aren't sure whom to pursue. Wear big, pink triangles. Recognizably Hassidic Jews and Muslims should also make the plaza a frequent pass-through. The idea is to incite their bigotry repeatedly (and to publicize it) while de facto reclaiming the space as public territory.

[4 Real]

Great idea!

[fefo70]

utah, Texas, and Alaska need to secede from the Union for the good of the Union.

[MikeHermit]

I am an Atheist in Utah. Utah is bad, but so are Alabama, Tennessee, many other states. What is needed is an enforcement, from top to bottom, of the seperation of Church and State. Including eliminating prayer before sessions of congress, "In God We Trust" on our monies, "One Nation Under God" in the pledge, swearing in on a Bible, so help me God no longer part of a swearing in, Bibles removed from courtrooms, Ten Commandments removed from courthouses. Seperate but Equal laws for the gay community.

Religions want respect. Then stop impeeding on us. I cannot respect something that does not give me my just resepct.

[CigarGod]

I'm pretty sure beliefs in imaginary, magical people, places and practices...can only earn one the same level of respect one might have for Dungeons and Dragons.....

[CigarGod]

I wish it was confined to just three states.
Unfortunately...it is worldwide...with a few nice, free little oasis paradisesesesss.

[MikeHermit]

I tried finding a Wiki post to help you all out in understanding how this section of Mian Street these men were on was illegally sold to the church by LDS members of the SLC Council. But all I could find referecing this deal in Wiki was in DeeDee Corradini's post. DeeDee was the very corrupt Mayr of SLC att he time the easement was sold to the church.

However if you look up LDS Main Street Plaza you will find many articles on this issue.

A legal fight lasted for years, headed by SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson and the ACLU. But the damage was done, illegal or not. The best Rocky could do was compromise, that or let it draw itself out years after he left the Mayor's office and risk the people of Salt Lake getting nothing.

[adoantarel]

So is this land around the church, the church grounds, or a random park? I'm becoming annoyed with churches owning and profitting from lands that do not relate to their religious practice (i.e., do not have a place of worship built on them) and not paying any taxes on them. Then they turn around and use their religion as grounds to discriminate on its use.

[MikeHermit]

It is land between Temple Square and the church office buildings. What land is that? Main Street is, er, was between the two areas. The block of Main Street between North Temple and South Temple was torn out for this easement. To go N-S on Main Street now you have to go a block east or west, then a block north or south, then back west or east.

Imagine the 2nd most traveled street in your city having a block ripped out of it so the local dominant religion can have unfettered access between 2 buildings.

[Mort]

It's just the width of a street that lies between two large blocks of church property that include the temple, tabernacle, visitors center, museum, lovely park with fountains, etc. People walk between the blocks constantly, stroll the park, experience the lights at Christmas. It made sense to complete the tie-in the way they did. Very nice plaza with fountains, flowers, and safety for everyone who once had to cross Main St. on foot. It's beautiful and relaxing.

The church paid dearly for that little strip, it does nothing to profit the church but it goes a long way to make things nice for people who come there, whether members or not. The temple area also inspires tourists from all over the world. If you haven't been there, you should make it a point to some time in your life. Well worth the trip.

[jdw1981]

SUE the M0r*0ns.

[ericmiami]

Really "good" Mormon men will be gods over their own planet when they die. The rest of us will be their subjects. Why would they care about a little kiss?

[probo]

These people are freeking weird.

[UTHeretic]

Hay Eric we miss you on the Herald's forum. There are intelligent progressive people in Utah. It just seems like the nut cases make the headlines.

[HCB7562002]

Sure they have private property rights - but not to the extent the commenters think they do here. (See, for example, if you can still keep a black couple out of a restaurant on private property)

But, while they claim their private property rights to be so completely stupid, it's also my right to point out they are a bunch of hypocritical, lying, bible thumping, dopes. Which God is it that is so full of hate? Not the Christian God I was taught to worship. They are pretenders who no more believe in God than they believe in the possibility of true love between mortals. They beat their bibles to make themselves feel better and to pull cash from the pockets of the same kind of people who think Sarah Palin is some kind of good person. They are really no different from the Scientologists - just a different name and a different story to tell. But, at heart, the same mean spirit supported by the idea God is bad - full of so much hate He'll send you to hell for eternity if you cross Him. Nonsense.

[henrypapillon]

Really, I am an atheist and I think the Mormon religion is about as silly as it comes. The good part of their religion is they require abstinence from alcohol tea and coffee and thereby keep their bodies free of drugs, but really folks, look at this rationally, this issue in a court of law all boils down to you can't just go on someone else's property and do as you darned please. You are at their mercy to put up with what you are doing , and if they don't like the way you look, they can give you the boot. That's liberty, folks!

[hortonhearsdawho]

they should really smoke...

[MikeHermit]

As an Atheist you should know by now there is more to this then you first hear. This property they were on was, years before, a section of SLC's second busiest street illegally obtained by the church.

[OlongapoEd]

Well, there are atheists and there are "atheists". Some avowed "atheists" are so chummy with religion or specific religions that the validity of their supposed "atheism" is quite suspect. Then, there are libertarian "atheists" whose dogmatic devotion to their so-called "right to discriminate" makes them strange bedfellows with religious groups that love to discriminate.

[gschear]

And before that it was part of land illegally obtained by the US Government through the near genocide of native Americans. If you want to try and build a case for this couple by challenging the legitimacy of property ownership then it will follow a trail a long way back to the first time one of our ancestors crushed the skull of his neighbor and took his cave.
Possession is nine tenths of the law. The law is written by those with the best weapons and the least conscience. Legitimacy is an illusion.

[walleymr]

ah, good old freedom from religion, alive and well

[Khaled Diab]

Well, actually the three Abrahamic faiths are very ambiguous about their position towards homosexuality. There is no explicit prohibition and most Bible-thumping homophobes draw from the story of Lot. But it is unclear what crime against God the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are supposed to have committed.

Besides, personally I wouldn't follow the Bible on such matters. After all, what kind of role model for us is Lot being when he offers the angry mob of Sodom the opportunity to "know" his daughters!

[HCB7562002]

However, it's not just the Mormons. Southern Baptists long ago prohibited love making in the standing position. Why? Because the church was afraid other people would think they were dancing.

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

I feel like dancing , dancing, dancing the night away...

[OlongapoEd]

Dancing madly backwards
Dancing on a sea of air

[batspaul]

I have a feeling it's gonna get PRETTY BUSY on that plaza.

The LDS folk went out of their way to fund discrimination against gay and lesbian people with proposition 8.

Why not repay them with a kiss?

[hortonhearsdawho]

a hersheys up there arse, sure...

[OliverTwist]

Why not kiss on public property instead?

What exactly is the goal and what is the prospect for achieving positive progress in this way?

[hortonhearsdawho]

to touch lips....or that to hard to figure out...

[MikeHermit]

The "Plaza" was public property til a few years ago when it, Main Street, was sold to the LDS church by LDS members of the SLC Council.

[OliverTwist]

I am skeptical of the narrative that this was an unplanned incident.

Public displays of affection and intimacy make many Americans uncomfortable.

Americans who approve of the affection and intimacy displayed are still likely to be uncomfortable.

Americans who disapprove of the affection and intimacy displayed are likely to be hostile.

Is it true this occured on church property?

If so, then were no suprises here.

[hortonhearsdawho]

gwb scre.wed americans, in the name of the.......

[LintLass]

A kiss on the cheek while walking with someone was 'staged?'

'Likely makes Americans uncomfortable?'

I'm sorry, you ask too much for your 'comfort.'

It's a public right-of way that that Church 'bought' ...illegally, it turns out, but it's still a public right-of way.

[CigarGod]

Why is it anyone's business?
Why are we all responsible for everyone's "feelings"?

[OliverTwist]

People are responsible for their own feelings. It is prudent however to take them into account.

[mergina]

ALL RELIGIONS SUCK.

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

amen !

[hortonhearsdawho]

hum, heavenly blo.w jobs, who knew...

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

now you know if this were true all churches would be packed...