LDS Security Detains Affectionate (Gay) Couple on Plaza

[_DarkHelmet]

Are people really surprised by this? Come on, you are a gay couple and you decide to walk on Mormon owned property what do you expect? If you're an interracial couple in the 1950s walking around holding hands and kissing do you really expect to be treated decently in the deep south? Of course not.

If you are gay, you better pretend to be straight when you are on Mormon property, or you will suffer the consequences. Church teachings on this issue are very clear.

[_Jonah]

I also think it is pretty darn foolish to try to make the case that this gay couple was treated the same as any other "affectionate" couple would have been, given all the kissing newlyweds that smooch all over that plaza while professional photographers document the practice.

Despite what they may or may not have said, I believe it's highly likely they did it on purpose, knowing full well it would get them into trouble, for the sake of publicizing their agenda.

At 10:30 in the evening?? If they were "publicizing their agenda" wouldn't they do so with more people around? I haven't been around temple square in 25 years, is the plaza really hoppin' late at night?

I thought the church tolerated gays as long as they were celibate. Holding hands and a kiss on the cheek???? I guess not. Wow.

[_harmony]

Church teachings on this issue are very clear.

Which church teachings are you referring to?

[_Gazelam]

Church teachings on this issue are very clear.

Which church teachings are you referring to?

Um, Chastity... Multiply and replentish the earth... Thall shalt not commit adultery...Honor your Father and Mother...Do the works of Abraham...

that's just off the top of my head.

[_harmony]

Um, Chastity...

Holding hands and a kiss on the cheek in a public place does not break the law of chastity as currently interpreted.

Multiply and replentish the earth...

They weren't having sex, Gaz. They were holding hands.

Thall shalt not commit adultery...

No adultery. Neither was married and there was no intercourse.

Honor your Father and Mother...

Holding hands and kissing a cheek is not dishonoring parents.

Do the works of Abraham...

Abraham the legend, the myth, the sheepherder? If they'd actually been herding sheep on the plaza, maybe the church would have a point.

that's just off the top of my head.

Try harder. I'm sure you can come up with something applicable. Your first attempt was not up to par at all.

[_The Nehor]

Ummmm....where do people get this weird idea that LDS don't mind homosexual relationships as long as there's no sex?

Any romantic, lustful, or physically attracted relationship between members of the same gender is WRONG. It's not okay if you just kiss or hold hands or hug. It's sin and to expect the Church to tolerate it's rules being flagrantly broken on THEIR OWN PROPERTY is incredibly arrogant.

[_asbestosman]

It's sin and to expect the Church to tolerate it's rules being flagrantly broken on THEIR OWN PROPERTY is incredibly arrogant.

But it's politically correct to demand it nonetheless.

[_Gazelam]

Harmony,

Holding hands and kissing a cheek is not dishonoring parents.

Gay people are not dishonoring their parents? Would you care to restate your opinion on this one?

[_JohnStuartMill]

The Church has said that it doesn't have a problem with gay people as long as they live the law of chastity. This incident shows that that just isn't true. The characteristics of the event are pretty unflattering, too: Church agents used violence against people who didn't do a whole lot more than let it be known that they were homosexuals. Does The Nehor really think that the couple wouldn't have been wrestled to the ground if they instead simply held up signs saying that they were homosexual? Even if he does, he's not off the hook, because that would mean that Church agents resorted to violence because of the differential of a same-sex peck on the cheek, which is absurd.

Now obviously, the Church has a right to say what people can't do on its property. But with this incident, it's showing that it would rather wallow in three thousand year old goatherder morality than adopt the live-and-let-live attitude that is the hallmark of modernity.

[_Jersey Girl]

Protesters Kiss Near Mormon TempleGay Couple Arrested for Kiss on Cheek Days Before

AOL / Wire Services
posted: 14 HOURS 23 MINUTES AGOcomments: 1790filed under: National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA(July 13) -- Protesters engaged in very public displays of affection in front of the Mormon church headquarters in Salt Lake City after two men were detained for sharing a kiss on the cheek in a plaza owned by the church.
Matt Aune said he and his partner, Derek Jones, were walking home from a concert on the night of July 9 when they cut through the Main Street 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.
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.
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 incident sparked a protest on Sunday: a "kiss-in" at the headquarters of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

More than 100 people, some wearing bright lipstick and others with hearts pinned to their clothing, gathered near the Main Street Plaza to share kisses on the cheek and mouth to show their support for Aune and Jones. Security guards and later police stopped the protesters from actually entering onto the plaza.
Jones and Aune attended the event, but remained quiet at the back of the crowd.
"I just want to get the message out," Jones said. "We're very flattered and very proud."
The Tribune reported the incident and protest have become a "flash point" of controversies involving the LDS Church: first, the sale of the plaza from the city to the church 10 years ago and second, the church's more recent support of California's gay marriage ban.