Security guards for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cited the
"unwanted" behavior of kissing and hugging as the reason
that they detained two gay men on church property last week in
Salt Lake City, according to the
police report
for the incident.
The report, which
TheSalt Lake Tribune
made available online, appeared to contradict statements from
the LDS Church in the wake of the detainment and ticketing of
Matt Aune and his partner, Derek Jones, for trespassing on Main
Street Plaza near the LDS temple on Thursday.
LDS spokeswoman Kim
Farah had said in a statement that the men were "asked to
stop engaging in inappropriate behavior just as any other
couple would have been." She said police were called when the
men "became argumentative and used profanity and refused to
leave the property."
However, the police
report does not suggest that church security guards asked Aune
and Jones to modify their behavior in order to remain on the
plaza. The report says the men were told directly that
"they need to leave [church] property for the behavior and
that [it] is unwanted."
LGBT activists
in Salt Lake City organized a kiss-in (pictured) at
Temple Square on Sunday in order to protest the detainment of
Aune and Jones.
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