Protesters and "Faithful Mormons" Clash At Kiss-In

Those kiss-ins in Utah are getting pretty heated:

A mass-kissing protest near the Mormon church temple Sunday drew a shouting match between gay activists and a group of faithful Mormons.

For the second consecutive weekend, about 100 people gathered to stage a "kiss-in" to protest the treatment of two gay men cited for trespassing July 9 after they shared a kiss on the plaza owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both gay and straight couples exchanged kisses during the protest.

Demonstrators were greeted at the south entrance by a group of protesters carrying large signs that denounced homosexuality, prompting a heated verbal exchange.

Police say no one was arrested or cited, despite a large group exchanging kisses by a reflecting pool at the plaza's center.
"We didn't call the police. We didn't do anything," church spokeswoman Kim Farah said.

The church bought one block of Salt Lake City's Main Street to build a plaza in the 1990s alongside the Temple, where Mormon marriages and other religious rituals take place.

Matt Aune has said he and his partner, Derek Jones, exchanged a modest kiss at the plaza 11 days ago, but church officials contend their behavior was lewd.

"There was much more involved that a simple kiss of the cheek," Farah said in a statement Friday. "They engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol."

The men have said they were walking home from a nearby concert and cutting through the plaza on their way home.

A police report said they sat down for a kiss and were approached by a pair of church security guards, who asked them to leave because their behavior was "unwanted."

Both were handcuffed and Aune was pinned to the ground.

Meanwhile, the police reports do not support the church's allegations of "passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and [the use of] alcohol."

A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints statement released Friday on a gay kissing incident that occurred on church property says the couple were detained for more than just a simple kiss.

The church says the couple were detained and cited for trespassing by the Salt Lake City police because the two men “engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol.”

“There was much more involved than a simple kiss on the cheek,” the church says.

Mormon officials also repeated their insistence that any couple – gay or straight – would be asked to leave under similar circumstances.

“[T]hese men were asked to stop engaging in behavior deemed inappropriate for any couple on the plaza. … They were politely told that the Plaza was not the place for such behavior and asked to stop.”

But a police report released on Tuesday conflicts with several key church statements. The report does support the claims that the men had been drinking and used profanity when cuffed – assertions the men do not deny – but there is no indication that the men were politely asked to stop being affectionate.

The police report says, “[Guard Walter] Nickel told both AP's … that they need to leave their property for the behavior and that it is unwanted.” Nickel told the police the unwanted behavior was “kissing and hugging.” The report does not describe the men as engaging in “passionate kissing” or “groping” as the church alleges.

“I guess they consider hugging groping,” Aune told the Salt Lake Tribune. “Regardless of if a kiss is on the cheek or the lips, it still is not inappropriate – unless you are gay, according to the LDS Church.”

Jones said during a television interview that as he was being cuffed, one of the guards said, “It's just gross, it's just wrong.”

Join the Impact MA Needs Your Help to Protect Marriage Equality In Maine!

From Join the Impact Massachusetts:

Hey friends,

As you may have heard, our opposition has gained all of the signatures that they need to launch a people's veto of marriage equality in Maine. This November, Mainers will vote on LGBT individuals' right to marry.

We need your help! We cannot allow this to become New England's own Prop 8!

Join the Impact MA is working with Equality Maine and MassEquality to organize carloads of volunteers to drive up to Maine and to go door-to-door talking to Mainers about the necessity of protecting marriage equality.

The next trip is this Saturday, leaving at 11:00 from MassEquality’s office in downtown Boston. Your help is needed!

Sign-up here: http://www.massequality.org/events/?type=volunteer

There will also be two opportunities to canvass in Maine this August:
Sun. Aug 2 - 11:00-9
Sun. Aug 9 - 11:00-9

Sign-up here: http://www.massequality.org/events/?type=volunteer

Hope to see you there!

-Kate Leslie
Co-Chair, Join the Impact MA
www.jointheimpactma.com

Protest Staged Over Homophobic Program Aired During Pride

Close to 100 people picketed outside of WFLA News Channel 8 in Tampa Bay in protest of the station's decision to air "Speechless: Silencing the Christians" on the same day as the St.Petersburg pride parade. The hour-long program, paid for by the American Family Association, is said to have contained hate speech directed against the LGBT community:

"It was a slap in the face of the gay pride movement," R. Zeke Fread, the director of Pride Tampa Bay, said at today's protest. "It was an hourlong attack on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

Carrie West, president of the GaYBOR District Coalition, said to his knowledge, WFLA was the only station in the Tampa Bay area that ran the program.

"It was very disturbing to a lot of people," West said.

Meanwhile, John Schueler, president of Media General's Florida Communications Group, the company that owns WFLA, defended the station's decision to air the program, stating:

"Our overriding mission is to provide platforms for the broadest points of view and be responsible to the community we serve. We understand that doing so can cause strong disagreement. We screened this program and ran a disclaimer before and after it ran noting that this does not reflect the views of WFLA."

Would someone please inform Mr. Schueler that it is not the views of WFLA that we are concerned about? The insult here stems from the extremely poor decision to air this program at such a sensitive time (or the decision to air this trash at all). Frankly, it is obvious that WFLA simply cared more about making the $35,000 dollars than showing any type of respect to the LGBT community on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. The station is said to have received over one thousand calls and emails protesting this propaganda prior to airing the program, and yet, decided to run it anyway.

Today's protest called for both an apology and the donation of the $35,000 dollars the station received for airing the program to an LGBT-oriented charity.

Here is an excerpt from "Speechless: Silencing the Christians":

How Other Nations Deal With Gays In The Military

Compliments of David Crary, here is how Israel, Australia, and Britain deal with the issue:

Israel

A nation in a constant state of combat readiness, Israel has had no restrictions on military service by gays since 1993.

Gays were permitted to serve even before then, but not in certain intelligence positions where, at the time, they were deemed possible security risks vulnerable to blackmail. Now, gays and lesbians serve in all branches of the military, including in combat.

Maj. Yoni Schoenfeld, a gay officer who is the editor of the military magazine, Bamahane, said there was little friction in the ranks related to gay soldiers.

He served as a combat soldier and as commander of a paratrooper company, and he said his sexual orientation — though known to fellow soldiers — was never an issue.

Gay jokes would sometimes surface, unusually not malicious, he said, while receptiveness to gays in combat units could vary.

Australia

In 1992, Anita Van Der Meer was threatened with discharge from the Australian navy for being a lesbian. She denied the allegation to save her job, and later that year the military's ban on gays and lesbians was lifted.

This spring, Van Der Meer marched with more than 100 other service members in Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade under an Australian Defense Force banner.

Chief Petty Officer Stuart O'Brien, who joined the navy 19 years ago, said being openly gay has not been an issue, even when he was working alongside U.S. military personnel in Baghdad in 2006.

"They valued the work that I did, and that's all that it comes down to at the end of the day," O'Brien said.

Britain

British policymakers had been wrestling for years with whether to scrap a long-standing ban on gays in the military, but the pivotal decision was made abroad, by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

The court ruled in 1999 that Britain had violated the rights of four former service members who had been dismissed for being gay or lesbian.

There was significant opposition to the change among military officers.

Lord Alan West, former head of the Royal Navy and now Britain's terrorism minister, served before and after the ban was lifted.

"It's much better where we are now," West said. "For countries that don't do that — I don't believe it's got anything to do with how efficient or capable their forces will be. It's to do with other prejudices, I'm afraid."

... apparently militaries do not fall apart when soldiers are allowed to be themselves, but, then again, we are the United States, and what could the only superpower have to learn from all the other puny nations of the world? That is the argument, is it not? We don't need their [superior] healthcare systems and GOD forbid we ever learn to think for ourselves and join the rest of the western world in freeing our society from the tyranny of religion.

No More Chico's Tacos for Me!

The recent story out of El Paso about the five men thrown out of Chico's Tacos for a simple kiss has really struck a personal nerve. My boyfriend is originally from El Paso and we went to one of these taco shops when I was visiting him just a few weeks ago. Now, although we did not kiss, it is nonetheless hard for me to imagine that such a simple display of affection had the potential to ruin our night and make national headlines.

It is a complete embarrassment for El Paso that a loving gay couple cannot share a kiss without being threatened with arrest. What is even worse are some the comments that have been reading concerning this story. People are complaining left and right about how we are always pushing the "gay agenda" and that we make a big deal out of every little incident. Well, damn right we do and we are going to keep on doing it! I will speak up against every injustice I witness regardless of how small or seemingly insignificant, because I know that, next time, it could be me. I could have been the one thrown out of Chico's Tacos; I could have been one arrested for kissing my boyfriend on the cheek in Utah; and I could have been the one beaten half to death on Columbus Street in Boston! We make a big deal because, for us, it's personal and far too real to ignore.

So please, remain vocal, vigilant, and proud! Societies do not progress without criticism!

Help Maine Uphold Marriage Equality!

Stand for Marriage Maine announced on July 8th that they have collected more than the 55,087 signatures needed to put the newly passed marriage equality law up for a vote this November. They have also hired Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the same firm that led the "Yes on 8" campaign in California and are outspending us by 2 to 1. Its time to make history at the ballot box and protect marriage equality! Do your part and see how you can help defend gay marriage at Maine Freedom to Marry. You can donate, sign a petition, spread the word, or even take a volunteer-vacation to Maine! I'll be volunteering up there come September!

I'm back!

Sorry for the two week holiday! I just got back from visiting my boyfriend in El Paso and started my summer internship at Virgen Advertising here in Las Vegas. It has been a crazy two weeks but I am getting my life back in order and Gaygling as much as possible!