CARNAL NATION

Following a free evening concert last Thursday in Salt Lake City, UT, Derek Jones and his boyfriend Matt Aune took advantage of a warm summer evening to walk home hand-in-hand. As they crossed Main Street Plaza around 11 p.m., Aune leaned over to give his boyfriend a peck on the cheek. That's when, according to the couple, that the trouble began. Security guards from the Church of Latter Day Saints assailed the two gay men. The couple claim that they were handcuffed, searched, and detained by the security guards for their public display of affection. Jones says that at one point he was even forced to the ground. “They said they wanted us to leave because of the public display of affection, and that they do not allow any sort of public displays of affection on the easement whatsoever,” Jones says. Aune says that he tried to find out from the security guards what they had done wrong. The guards allegedly told the pair that their behavior was “unnatural” and “just wrong.” Aune says, "I was trying to get the real reason out of them, which obviously was they were targeting us because we were a gay couple." He adds, “At no time did we ever refuse to leave. After we were in handcuffs, they said, ‘You can leave, or we can call the police.’” The Salt Lake City police did arrive and issued the two men misdemeanor citations for trespassing.

The problem seems to be one of appearances (and not just that the Church of Latter Day Saints appears homophobic in this instance). Main Street Plaza only looks like a public space, but following a controversial 2003 land-swap deal between the Mormon church and the city, it is actually private property owned by the church. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed an unsuccessful lawsuit over the deal after it was discovered that a "public easement" granted by the church for public use of the formerly public space came with restrictions on behavior, including using foul language. Signs posted in the Plaza (pictured left) prohibit smoking, bicycling, roller skating, and skateboarding. Now it appears (somewhere in the fine print or on the back of the sign?) that, among other things, holding hands is prohibited—at least if you're a gay couple. Officials from the Church of Latter Day Saints have made no public statement regarding the incident. If the allegations of Jones and Aune are true, it would seem that the Church has already made a statement. We can't wait to see the response. Kisses.

[Update: The Advocate reports that dozens of gay couples held a kiss-in in Temple Square on Sunday, July 12, to protest the treatment of Aune and Jones by Church of the Latter Day Saints security guards. Video of the protest is available from KTSU-TV.]