If you see any queers kissing, just call the cops

[tumbleweed41]

For all LGBT in the Salt Lake City region, stage a "kiss in" just off LDS property.

 

[Smoke]

For all LGBT in the Salt Lake City region, stage a "kiss in" just off LDS property.

Protesters smooch near LDS Temple - Salt Lake Tribune

Wearing bright red lipstick, Isabelle Warnas smiled and planted a big kiss on her husband's cheek, something she said she has done often under the spires of the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple.

"Nobody has said a thing to us," the 50-year-old Salt Lake City resident said.

This time, though, they had an audience of more than a hundred. They were gathered for a "kiss-in" staged Sunday morning near Main Street Plaza to show support for a gay couple, Derek Jones, 25, and Matthew Aune, 28, who say they were detained by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints security guards after one man had kissed the other on the cheek Thursday. They had argued with the guards and were later cited for trespassing.

"My husband and I cannot understand the discrimination," Warnas said. "This is not right." The atmosphere Sunday morning was genial, and even merry among protesters. Organizer and former city councilwoman Deeda Seed encouraged "gentle" displays of public affection, and participants stuck to short kisses on the mouth and cheeks.

Several LDS Church security guards dressed in suits kept a watchful eye, and turned some protesters back when they tried to cross the church-owned plaza or walk onto the property to share a kiss.

Guards called police when protesters staged a walk onto the plaza, and officers stood to block the entrance.

"They were asked repeatedly not to come onto the property, and they chose to do so anyway," said LDS church spokeswoman Kim Farah.

Though a few people spoke in protest, there were no direct confrontations, and guards did not stop the protesters gathered past the property line.

​

 

[Smoke]

Some interesting comments on Pharyngula:

The LDS Church appears to bent on making a Vatican City out of their downtown kingdom. The blocks including Temple Square, the Conference Center, the two malls owned by the Church, and so forth are roughly comparable in size to the Holy See, and I suspect that's how it's been pitched internally.

Even when I was a Mormon, I was ****** at this excessive development of downtown Salt Lake City. The Church has forgotten that its doctrines require the headquarters to move back to "Adam-ondi-Ahman" near Independence, Missouri at Christ's Second Coming. Serious investment in Salt Lake City should have been viewed as a waste of tithes and as a sign that the leadership never expects Jesus to drop by again.

However, the most insulting thing the Church did was to tout the easement plaza in its planning stages as a "little bit of Paris". I served my mission in Paris, and there was no doubt that this claim was ********. After all, their Church security monitored park wouldn't allow wine, coffee, cigarettes, fashion, or passion, so how could they possibly claim with a straight face that it would be anything like Paris?
​

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There are hundreds of mormon wedding videos up on youtube. Some show couples in the plaza. Lots of kissing between heteros in most of the wedding videos -- so it's okay to kiss, up to a point.
​

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Long before that easement was turned into Church property, my brother and I were in SLC taking photos for a postcard/brochure/calendar company. We were well off the main plaza, and I had called the Church administration offices beforehand to get permission for photos and to find out what the rules were -- nevertheless, two CIA-looking guys with earpieces stopped us. "I have a guy here with a beard, and he's taking pictures." The security guy worked for the Church and he was patrolling public property as if it belonged to the Church.


​

 

[Smoke]

And some interesting comments from the website of KVIA in El Paso:

Becky in East EL Paso

I think that the guys that were kissing at Chico's Tacos were treated fairly. They should not have been kissing in such a public place. Chico's has big and little people of all ages using their restaurant and guys kissing (even a peck on the lips) still is extremely bothersome for some people to except and there are parents that definitely do not want to expose their children so to that kind of behavior. A man and wife (or boy friend and girl friend) giving each other a peck is OK because it is generally exceptable behaviour. I guess I'm just saying that they (the guys that kissed) need to be careful where they kiss.
​

************************

Donald Ostrum

I'm disappointed the cops didn't put a bullet in each of the ***'s head. The only thing faggots deserve is what Matthew Shepard got. They should NOT be allowed to breath.
​

************************

Guero

TERRY , A GAY SINGLED OUT , OR REJECTED BY YOUNG ONES , IS NOT RELATED HERE , FOR A GAY TO DO AN ACT OF THIS SICKNESS IN MY LATE NIGHT SNACK TIME WITH MINORS WATCHING , BACOMES A SAFETY ISSUE FOR THE GAY COUPLE IF I AM WITHING REACH OF THEM , I A GAY OR NOT , GETTING AROUSED IS NOT WHAT WE NORMAL MEN WANT TO SEE, MUCH LESS AT DINNER , FOR YOUR DAUGHTER , I AM NOT FOR NOR AGAINST HER , BUT A GAY DOES N SHOULD EXPECT A REJECTION IF SHE CHOSES A LFESTYLE THAT DOESNT MATCH WHAT WE WERE USED TO LIVE IN OUR YOUTH , MALE N FEMALE WAS OUR LIFESTYLE , TOO BAD WE ARE LIKE THIS NOW.
​

************************

Lars

"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. ... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
Coretta Scott King - November 2003
​

 

[Zephyr]

So...what if I were to kiss both my fiancee and my roommate? Would I get half-handcuffed?

 

[Mr Cheese]

Gay couple cuffed, cited after kiss near LDS temple

The pair crossed the plaza holding hands, Aune said. About 20 feet from the edge of the plaza, Aune said he stopped, put his arm on Jones' back and kissed him on the cheek.

Several security guards then arrived and asked the pair to leave, saying that public displays of affection are not allowed on the church property, Aune and Jones said. They protested, saying they often see other couples holding hands and kissing there, said Jones

"We were kind of standing up for ourselves," Jones said. "It was obviously because we were gay."

The guards put Jones on the ground and handcuffed him, he said. Aune said he was also cuffed roughly, and suffered bruises and a swollen wrist. The injuries did not require medical treatment, Snyder said.

Farah said the two men "became argumentative," refused to leave, and used profanity.

Aune said he felt "upset" and "affronted" during the approximately five-minute exchange.

"When I was handcuffed, I was very ****** and I unleashed a flurry of profanities," he said.

Police arrived about 10:30 p.m. They spoke with the couple and two security guards before issuing the citations, Snyder said. The pair was banned from LDS Church Headquarters' campus for six months, Farah confirmed. That does not include the City Creek or any other properties.

​

****************************

Two gay men kicked out of Chico's Tacos restaurant for kissing

The five men, all gay, were placing their order at the Chico's Tacos restaurant on Montwood when the men kissed. All five sat down, but the two guards at the restaurant told them to leave.

De Leon quoted one of the guards as saying he didn't allow "that ****** stuff" in the restaurant.

De Leon said they refused to leave and called police for help. He said an officer arrived about an hour later in response to calls from his group and the guards.

As they waited for police, the guards directed other anti-gay slurs at them, he said.
Already angry at the guards, de Leon and his group became angrier at the two police officers who arrived.

"I went up to the police officer to tell him what was going on, and he didn't want to hear my side," de Leon said. "He wanted to hear the security guard's side first."

Police declined to identify the officers who responded, but department spokesman Javier Sambrano described one officer as relatively inexperienced.

De Leon said the officer told the group it was illegal for two men or two women to kiss in public. The five men, he said, were told they could be cited for homosexual conduct -- a law the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas.

​

Yeah well...

Americans find Janet Jackson's nipple more offensive than images of war and genocide.....

so this is not really shocking or suprising:sorry1:

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Private property is private property. The government has no right to tell a person what he/she can/can't do on their own property. No matter who the person was being told to leave, I would still uphold the companies' right to their property. Indeed I commented similarly on that thread about the kids at that swim camp.

There are varying degrees of "private property". You have one level of rights in your own home; you have another level of rights in your place of business you make open to the public.

In addition to laws relating to business, you could have, say, an easement on your property. IIRC, my Mom's house has a drainage easement: it's written into the title that she can't interfere with the drainage swale that runs along her rear property line. In other places I've seen, there are power lines or sewer pipes that run across private property, and those properties have easements as well that allow the utility company to access them for maintenance and emergencies.

And with something like a park used by the public, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of right of crossing or squatter's rights from common law. I also wouldn't be surprised if there were special terms in the park's title that enshrined public use, especially if it was previously a public part and sold to the Church by the local government with the intent of keeping it functioning as a park for the public.

Question: I understand the whole "private property" bit, but don't things change when you allow free access to the general public, especially if it's a business? There are laws regarding how businesses are run, regardless of them being private property.

I agree. I've said before that any sort of commercial licence is an arrangement for mutual benefit. The government creates an artificial supply shortage (by prohibiting unlicenced businesses from operating) that benefits the licenced businesses. In exchange for this, the licenced businesses agree to serve the public good in some way.

Well, the way our government currently operates is not in line with the Constitution. Telling people what to do on their private property was never allowed in the Constitution. Acts like the Patriot Act and similar acts are Unconstitutional...but we let it happen because we're afraid of those "terrorists" who want to take us out.

Tell you what: when you open your restaurant, tell the local health department that they don't have the right to tell you to not to leave food out unrefrigerated. When they give you a public health citation, make a constitutional challenge and let us know how far you get with it.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Americans find Janet Jackson's nipple more offensive than images of war and genocide.....

Hmmm, that's a tough one to call.

 

[tumbleweed41]

Yeah well...

Americans find Janet Jackson's nipple more offensive than images of war and genocide.....

It's all due to that misprint in the Constitution, It was originally meant to read "..the right to bare breasts shall not be infringed...", not arms!

 

[Al Bundy]

You people just don't get it. Gayness is icky. If this kind of thing is allowed, some of that icky homosexuality might rub off on good Moroni fearing Mormons. We can't have that now can we?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It's all due to that misprint in the Constitution, It was originally meant to read "..the right to bare breasts shall not be infringed...", not arms!

Now that's the sort of militia I might just sign up for!

You people just don't get it. Gayness is icky. If this kind of thing is allowed, some of that icky homosexuality might rub off on good Moroni fearing Mormons. We can't have that now can we?

I wonder how one would differentiate between same-sex affection and other displays that go against Mormon teaching... wearing a Kara or a hijab, for instance.