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Loading...Cuffed for a Gay Kiss in Salt Lake City?
According to Associated Press reports, a gay couple were detained by security guards in Salt Lake City, Utah, after one man gave his partner a kiss on the cheek whilst in a plaza owned by the Mormon Church. The couple are now claiming homophobia, but church spokespeople refute this, saying that by refusing to leave immediately when confronted the couple were trespassing and were therefore dealt with appropriately.
What Lead to the Gay Couple’s Police Citation?
The couple, Matt Aune and his partner Derek Jones, had attended a concert nearby to the plaza on Thursday 9th of July, and were walking home when they decided to cut through the plaza which is in close proximity to the Salt Lake City Mormon temple, and connects church sites. The couple were holding hands.
Matt Aune tells that he became affectionate with his partner and gave Derek Jones a “hug and a kiss on the cheek”. They couple say they were then swiftly approached by security guards, one of whom asked them to leave, citing that they had been behaving inappropriately by displaying affection, and that it wasn’t allowed on church property. The two men sort clarification on what it was they had done to provoke the charge of inappropriate behavior.
The couple were then cuffed by security, the police were called and they were given a formal citation for a misdemeanor trespassing offense for refusing to leave when asked.
The church originally declined to comment, but then Kim Farah, a Church spokeswoman, became available for a press statement, saying that the couple were “asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior – just as any other couple would have been.” She then alleges that the couple became “argumentative” and “used profanity” and therefore had to be cuffed and the police called.
The couple admit to allegations that they used profanity, but say that it only happened after they were cuffed (important because, under the deal that won the LDS Church the plaza, they are allowed to police against offensive language, but this is often used as a defense for excessive use of force and so the precise order of events may be subject to investigation).
Police Sgt. Robin Snyder commented on the incident, saying “It doesn’t matter what they were asked to leave for… if they are asked to leave and don’t they are trespassing.”
I am prone to agree with Sergeant Snyder on the latter point – if you are asked to leave privately owned property and you do not, you are trespassing, pure and simple. As to the first comment, “It doesn’t matter what they were asked to leave for,” well, that is a different matter.
The church highlighted inappropriate behavior on the couple’s part as the reason why security took action. When asked to define what inappropriate behavior was, however, Farah refused to answer. If the church had a policy on all affectionate conduct being inappropriate, and enforced it thusly, there would be no argument to be had. In matters of private property (the plaza became the property of the church in 2003) I am reluctant to say that the church is without basis for asking the couple to leave because it is the church’s property to regulate as they see fit.
Essentially, they have the right to discriminate. And they made full use of that right. The question becomes, should they be allowed that right, and, does the public at large have the right to seek consistency in such rules that the church lay down when it comes to a space so frequently used by pedestrians as well as church goers?
A Gay Kiss-In as Protesters Demonstrate
On Top Magazine reports around 100 gay and straight couples amassed at the plaza entrance over the weekend, where the couples then kissed and hugged one another to protest the events that happened Thursday night. Security guards stood watching but did not make motion to intervene until the protesters stepped foot onto church property. Protesters were then asked to leave by the restrained officials.
The protesters say that they were demonstrating against the inequality in the enforcement of the church’s rules, alleging that the couple were targeted specifically for being a gay couple and that a straight couple doing the same would not have been dealt with so harshly. They were also said to be protesting the church’s claim to the land, which stems back to the controversial 2003 handover which gave the Mormon Church the right to regulate behavior in the plaza after its public easement status was removed, much to the anger of free-speech advocates.
The Mormon Church has been one of the premier sources of capital for high profiled anti-gay legal measures, such as Proposition 8, and also now has ties to the Maine gay marriage battle.
Whilst one might suggest the security guards were well within their rights to ask the two men to leave, this petty enforcement against a gay couple who were not loitering but were on their way through the square, and it being late at night, seems counterproductive to recent efforts by LGBT advocates and the Mormon Church to heal rifts and find common ground.
It also adds more fuel to an increasingly hotter burning fire as to what rights, precisely, church organizations should be allowed when their influence can directly effect the rights of others, and also, on the other side of the coin, how churches, especially those morally objecting to homosexuality, can be treated fairly as the advancement of gay rights continues.
Read more: civil rights, gay rights, gay rights and mormon church, lgbt rights
Photo used under the Creative Commons Attribution License, with thanks to Rickz.
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42 comments
+ add your ownI find it interesting that 8 out of the top ten states that spend the most per capita on pornography are conservative, with Utah spending the most.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/200903/why-conservatives-spend-more-pornography
Hey Rob n Jay B, thanks for the green star! I can't give them out yet, lol. I wanna tell a short story: My brother lived here in SLC and died two years ago n I am executor of his estate, so we're here off and on. But he worked downtown at a hotel whose owner is Mormon. That man put all of our family up for free in rooms for two weeks (though my hubby and I insisted he accept several hundred dollars when we stayed on longer to settle up estate things), and he coordinated-- free-- every aspect of the funeral, said a prayer, a eulogy and even sang and played guitar. He showed the kind of compassion and love that the church SAYS it wants its members to live. He made a difficult time a thousand times more bearable for all of us and treated my hubby and I with genuine warmth and respect, and invited our family to his home for a huge dinner after the funeral. We will be forever grateful to him and his wife. I want to think that many Mormons live their lives as lovingly and honorably as this man does, but the actions the church and many of its members took on prop 8 and many actions in the past show differently. The institution sets the tone. Many members would be much more accepting if the leaders didn't constantly reinforce the cruel attitudes that too often end up deadly to confused youth.
All I want to get across to the Mormons is: My marriage (let alone a couple of guys kissing each other on the cheek in a park!) cannot possibly have any effect whatsoever on your marriage!
HATE.........plain and simple.....amazing these people are offended by a little affection between to consenting adults...when most of these people are the ones who sleep with young girls and boys....these people who preach hate are the ones who are a danger to society.
As a gay person myself i know what hate is.I always dream that as Human Beings we could still love each other.But i also know this may not happen.Its sad to think becuse someone is not the same as me that person hates hates me becuse i am gay.We have so much work to do.
@Mac R
Another example of a religion of love,
and compassion, and peace !
@Michele Fleming
Capitals = screaming and agressivity !
You already have been told !
Sans rancune!
I'm a gay ex-communicated Mormon and currently live in Salt Lake City with my husband (live permanently in Palm Springs and were married there, after being together for 27 years). When they ex-commed me the letter said quote, "You are hereby denied the privelege of paying tithing."
Someone asked what they were "guarding" as if it were like the Vatican. Well, Mormons have nowhere near the wealth the Catholics have, but they are the wealthiest church "per capita" in the world, and in some of their spectacular temples, like DC and San Diego, the windows are marble shaved so thin they let light in. That's the kind of excess they lavish on their edifices, but years ago my hubby and I got stranded in Las Vegas with our two cats and called several bishops to ask if someone could keep them in their garage for a few days while we made arrangements, and even though my mom and sister were still active members, they wouldn't give us the time of day to help keep a couple of kitties safe. That's compassion! Not. But the headtrips they lay on gay boys and girls is unconscionable, inhumanly cruel and leads to untold numbers of suicides. They are the sick ones! For those who say the hate goes both ways... you're wrong. The church treats gays with utter contempt and disgust. I had a friend whose mother told him she'd rather see him dead than gay, seriously, and their bishop refused to tell her to back that thought down even a little. Literal homophobia: irrational fear of gays is policy.
Until ALL religions have disappeared from the surface of the earth,
there will be hatred and killing !
THE HATE WORKS BOTH WAYS AND NEITHER IS RIGHT!
Even the President, WHO PROMISED SO MUCH FOR US TO BE TREATED AS EQUALS, has seemingly failed to do what should be done. The mormon church which is "headquartered" in Salt Lake City is a stellar example of discrimination, bias HATRED and hate mongering. What could be expected? My personal saying is that ULTIMATELY good ALWAYS wins over evil..So THE TIME FOR EQUALITY WILL COME......
For Rob and Jay B are yall aware that there is a reconstituted LDS church for gay mormons. I don't know much about it but years ago I knew a guy who was involved. I met him at an MCC, which of course accepts ex-Mormons.
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