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Loading ...Police report sides with Salt Lake City gay couple
07.15.2009 5:00pm EDT
(Salt Lake City) A police report on an incident involving a gay couple kissing appears to side with the detained gay couple. The Salt Lake City couple was cuffed and detained by security guards for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after refusing to follow guard orders.
Matt Aune, 28, and his partner Derek Jones, 25, were walking across the Main Street Plaza, an easement that connects the Mormon Temple to other church sites that belong to the church. The men say they were told to leave after they hugged and kissed. Mormon Church officials claim that the men were given a warning for their behavior and then detained for trespassing after refusing to leave.The report does not mention a warning, saying only that the guard told the pair that “they need to leave [church] property for the behavior and that [it] is unwanted.” The report says that the “unwanted” behavior was kissing and hugging, and that police were called when Jones refused to leave.
Jones claimed during a television interview that as he was being cuffed, one of the guards said, “It’s just gross, it’s just wrong.”
Alcohol was involved in the incident as well. “I could smell alcohol on Matt’s [Aune] breath and he [sic] speech was slightly slurred when he spoke to me,” police officer Eric Moutsos said.
A kiss in occurred the Sunday after the incident in which participants, both gay and straight, wore paper hearts while kissing to show support for Aune and Jones.
Read the full On Top Magazine article here.
Stupid Mor(m)ons!
Cuffed and detained by the Guards?!?!?
Since when can a Church guard arrest someone?!?!?!
LAWSUIT!
Jud, Read the other reports before you say that. There have been two or three ACLU cases about this piece of property and so far the Churches laws pertain there.
But according to ‘real’ police there were no laws broken.
Well, they were asked to leave when they refused to its trespassing, simple as that.
The church had every right to have them arrested, its their property.
This is really simple. If you don’t like the rules on church grounds then STAY OFF CHURCH GROUNDS. It is private property, and they have the right to enforce the rules however they want. Quit your crying and get over it. I don’t go to your gay bars and start preaching about how wrong your behavior is, so I would expect the same respect and have you stay off church grounds (of any religion that does not agree with the BGLT agenda) if you are going to kiss each other. I don’t want my kids seeing a hetero couple making out, and I surely don’t want them to see a gay couple kissing either. Why is respect one way with the BGLT community?
i see the mor(m)ons/christian taliban trolls are out …
Probably because churches like that have never given us any.
“Not preaching at us in bars” is not a sign of respect. They preach against us everywhere else every chance they get and generally try to make our lives hell, stomping all over our happiness, rights, beliefs and families.
Ignoring something you find distasteful is not respecting anything. Actively denouncing it even more so.
By the sound of it, the only reason you don’t go into bars preaching about our “wrongful” behavior is because you’re afraid you’d be outnumbered.
Wise decision there my friend.
And its LGBT… but at least you got the letters right.
If Mormons had their way, they’d make the whole world their church grounds. They talk about doing whatever they want on their private property, but they also go out of their way to impose their morals and deny other minorities civil rights. And they have the nerve to call it, “democratic.”
You want our respect?! RESPECT OUR CIVIL RIGHTS! OUR CIVIL RIGHTS SHOULD NEVER GO UP FOR A VOTE!
Though I love to see men kissing men, women kissing women, and same sex couples holding hands, etc., all in public(and yes, children should see this), I do think the two gay guys should have left the church property when told to do so, without any further ado. When they didn’t leave and heed authority at the time, they effectively tresspassed. A drunk, gay couple, swearing and getting out of control on private property is not how I want the LGBT community to be represented, nor is it a cause I want to get behind. I must say, however, the guard should have just called the police and had our two little drunk boys removed! The guard hand-cuffing them was too forceful, and could have led to something tragic. I know–let’s go to the swimming club in Philadelphia, rent the place, kiss away and see what happens!
It’s private property, but it would be interesting to see how right of way laws work… In most states, if you allow people to use your property to transverse to another property, after a certain period of time (7-9 years in a lot of places), you can’t just pull that access away.
Would be interesting to see that argument. But otherwise – private property.
Jeff, you don’t go to Gay bars but you are in a Gay comments section of a Gay web site?
Its very refreshing to see the gay community on this forum seems to view common sense. These guys were trespassing… Sure the Mormons appear to be forceful, but we all agree it was their right.
Religion causes nothing but trouble and religion vilifies gay men like me – no wonder why I am a full athiest!!!!!!
For some reason I dont think we are hearing the full story. These two men were taking one small shortcut and then were detained by guards. The Mormon guards dont fuck around and they dont give warnings. I am quite sure they just up and detained the couple on the spot. Granted they did trespass according to the church. This area was bribed from the city with mormon money so they could regulate any “inappropriate homosexual behavior” (like holding hands and giving innocent pecks on the cheek) and “block protest.”
I am sorry if a mormon can walk on my land to my door which is a good 180 meters then these men can stroll across a small park plaza. If they think gays should be detained just for walking on their land then when a mormon comes on mine they are good enough to detain or shoot; since there are warning signs all over my property that show my respect for the second amendment towards trespassers. If it waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, then they better know how to DUCK!
“BGLT” aganda – ok if you are going to talk about something you know absolutely nothing about then at least get it right, it is LGBT and you go ahead and shelter your kids, there is nothing wrong with that, many people are raised in loveless homes and when they grow up and are able to lead their own lives without the control of their parents they will leave you and your family and you will wonder what you did wrong, LOL, funny you failed to show them love and then you wonder why the divorce rate is skyrocketing in our country. Bury your head in you bible and pray. God may answer you, then again, no answer is an answer.