Another forbidden gay kiss, this time in Salt Lake City.

On the heels of that much publicized "illegal" same sex kiss in El Paso... It's deja vu all over again, this time in the land of Brigham Young, door-to-door proselytizers, rabid Prop 8 supporters, and polygamy enablers.

Matt Aune, 28, and Derek Jones, 25, were walking home from a concert along a major thoroughfare in downtown Salt Lake City.  Main Street Plaza, the former public easement they were using, had been handed over to the Mormon Church in a controversial land-swap deal.  So officially, they were on LDS property - but it's still a sidewalk, and it's still in the heart of the city.

The young men had been holding hands and getting disapproving looks from some security guards hired by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  At one point Aune stopped and kissed his partner on the cheek.  That's when the guards moved in and brusquely informed them that public displays of affection are not allowed on church property.  They were told to leave the plaza immediately.  Aune and Jones protested, saying they often saw other couples holding hands and kissing there.  That's when the guards threw Jones to the ground and handcuffed him.  Aune was also cuffed roughly, leaving him with bruises and a swollen wrist.  Police were called to the scene, and the pair was issued citations.

From Salt Lake Tribune:  Aune and his partner, Derek Jones, 25, were cited by Salt Lake City police for trespassing on the plaza, located at 50 East North Temple, according to Sgt. Robin Snyder.  In a written statement, church spokeswoman Kim Farah denied the two were singled out for being gay. "Two individuals came on church property and were politely asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior - just as any other couple would have been," she said.  She declined to comment on what is considered inappropriate behavior, and on the rules governing the plaza.  (We can't tell you what the rules are - but make sure you don't break them!)  Though Salt Lake City sold the property to the church in the late 1990s, it remains a popular pedestrian thoroughfare, and a site where couples often pose affectionately for photos.  (And probably engage in more than a chaste kiss on the cheek.)  The Salt Lake Police Department on Friday denied a Salt Lake Tribune request for a full police report on the incident, citing Utah laws giving them five business days to respond to records requests.  (Getting their ducks in a row, no doubt.)  Snyder refused to name the reason security guards gave for alerting police, saying it is "irrelevant."  (Actually, this is very relevant.)   "If a person is asked to leave private property for whatever reason and refuses to do so, that is technically trespassing," she said.  (Which is what happens every time one of these pious LDS youths bangs on your door, spreading their intolerant religion.  They're trespassing.) 

Whether or not Aune and Jones refused point blank to leave this very public (albeit church owned) thoroughfare is debatable.  (The guards claim that's the case, if you want to believe them.)  But these young men did stand their ground by questioning why they were being harassed, and this drew the ire of LDS goons who probably expected them to scurry away like frightened mice.

Religious conservatives moan and groan about gays and lesbians "pushing their lifestyle" in people's faces, even though LGBT Americans are forced to endure opposite sex displays of affection on a daily basis.  Watching straight couples kiss and embrace on the streets doesn't bother me - but then I've been seeing that my entire life.  Maybe it's time for us to return the favor and share more public kisses.  After all, what's good for the goose...

UPDATE:  Matt Aune tells SLC Weekly:  "I was trying to get the real reason out of them, which obviously was they were targeting us because we were a gay couple...  At no time did we ever refuse to leave."  Also, a kiss-in on Main Street Plaza is being planned for 9am Sunday morning, with another scheduled for next Saturday.

Comments

[Daniel]

I'm not gay. I'm extremely heterosexual, and by that I mean I would love to be gay, because I certainly don't understand women, but I simply couldn't do it (or him). So is it a bad thing that this type of stuff immediately makes me want to catch the next flight to salt lake city and start kissing dudes in the park? Each and everytime I hear about this stuff, my instinct is to jet off to wherever it happened and just start doing whatever would get me in trouble, because there's no way they'd just handcuff me. I'd be unconscious before I stopped fighting.

[Bee Girl]

Another black eye for the Mormon church. What creeps.

[Aggie]

So, Salt Lake City is like, what, America's Vatican? LDS basically owns the joint? Yikes! Remind me to never go there.

[Stephanie]

I'm a Christian-- not one of the fake ones that spout hate and throw their own moral beliefs on others. Christians are called to love everyone and treat everyone as friends-- NOT to judge. It makes me sick when people like those guards make my faith look bad.

[Dawn Syndrome]

There should be a big, gay love-in along that entire stretch of road. I would like to see those dreadful cretins try to arrest thousands of queens then.