Gay “kiss-in” in front of Mormon temple draws protests

Posted by justinquincy , Jul, 2009 @ 5:53 am

The strange and twisted story of the Mormon Church and the gay community continues to evolve this week after a mass “kiss-in” held last week outside a Mormon temple in protest of the recent arrest of a gay couple who were cited for, “indecent behavior.” The Church officially claimed that the couple were engaged in more than kissing and that it also involved, “inappropriate groping and loud” behavior and that the couple was, “drunk.” The couple denies this charge and says it was an innocent kiss. The common denominator: the couple was on the way home from a concert.

Actology first reported on this story last week where we were stunned by the kind of rude behavior exhibited by the police in handling the situation. Unfortunately, what we are unable to glean from this event is whether or not the Church is telling the truth. Why is it that the gay community insists on flaunting itself with such offense when it produced a story that, until this ‘kiss-in’, likely seemed a bit more discrimantory to a wider audience. To me, the ‘kiss-in’ is a flagrant show of indecency that only helps to fuel the critics of gay rights. I’m not saying that gays must become dainty Amish with cordial lifestyles. It is outrageous, if the facts of the case are taken at face value, that the Mormon Church and the police harrassed this couple. But, if they were in fact drunk and rude (which is plausible given they were just at a concert), it’s hard to argue that the Church, and definitely the police, would have acted any differently with a straight couple.

Without a doubt, gay couples should have every right afforded to straight couples. Unfortunately, folks that also means that loud, indecent, and drunk behavior, for better or for worse (this is something to be debated on its own merits), is wrong in many settings for both sets of couples. We don’t know for sure if the couple was in fact these things. But, you sure don’t hear any of that kind of questioning from those “kissing-in”, who apparently would much rather have any excuse to antagonize some of the rude people in the Mormon church. I say that instead the gay community should show the Mormans that they can kiss when they want and be respectful at the same time, a lesson the Mormons would be hard-pressed to learn.