Kiss-In Held to Protest LDS Church

Dozens of gay couples held a kiss-in at Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Sunday to protest the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for detaining a gay couple who kissed on church property, reports KTSU-TV in the following video.

During the incident, first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, Matt Aune and Derek Jones say that LDS Church security detained them on Thursday and Salt Lake City police cited them for trespassing after they kissed on the cheek on Main Street Plaza. The property was sold to the church by the city in the late '90s, although many couples continue to pose affectionately for photos on the space.

Aune, 28, and Jones, 25, told the newspaper that they were walking back to their nearby home in the evening when they crossed the plaza holding hands, then stopped to kiss on the cheek. Several security guards arrived and told the couple that public displays of affection are not allowed on church property.

When Aune and Jones protested, they were handcuffed, and police were called. Aune and Jones were barred from LDS Church headquarters campus for six months.

Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the LDS Church, provided a written statement to TheSalt Lake Tribune saying that the detainment had nothing to do with Aune and Jones being gay. Aune and Jones were "asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior just as any other couple would have been. They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property. They were arrested and then given a citation for criminal trespass by SLPD," said the LDS Church.