By now, unless you've been living in a cave, you've heard about the incident on Temple Square's Main Street Plaza. A male gay couple was arrested for displaying public affection, after they were apparently told to stop. The Church issued a statement yesterday defending the action of their security guards, claiming the aggressive treatment they meted out was necessary and appropriate. They claim that the couple was "...engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language and had obviously been using alcohol" and after being politely asked to stop, then they were arrested. The Church's claim about this couples behavior is hard to accept for various reasons, especially considering no eye witnesses have said anything that backs up this Church statement. There are certainly enough gay averse people at Temple Square to draw all sorts of verbal support if this actually happened. Also, the Church released this statement--which enhanced the behavior of the couple--after it initially claimed they were merely kissing passionately.
The security guard(s) involved obviously don't like gays, and they used their position of authority to do something about their dislike. Instead of defending such unnecessary behavior, the Church should apologize for the incident and fire the securit guard(s). Whether they realize it or not, their defiant stance on Prop 8, coupled with this, continues to make them look more and more bigoted. The more the Church digs in its heels, the more it hurts itself and its members. Fairly or not, people all over the world are viewing the Church more negatively than they have in a long time, and this invites unnecessary and uncomfortable interactions when people run into us--Mormons.
I have kissed my wife many times at Temple Square--at times "passionately"--and I've never seen any form of security bat an eye. This couple was obviously treated differently than a heterosexual couple would have been. This isn't like defending traditional marriage, which obviously has enormous social implications; it was simply a couple enjoying a beautiful location, and they shared the moment the way a lot of us do. Once again, the Church's response has been saddening and embarrassing; they should apologize, fire the security guard, and work to improve relations with the gay community. More and more Mormons are coming out of the closet, and the Church needs to find a better way of relating to them.
2 comments:
i have not heard of that! probably due to my lack of TV. can security guards arrest people? and if they so what was the cause? did their minds venture to their high school hall monitoring days? this is too ridiculousness for words.
that is really too bad. It shouldn't have happened. I didn't know you could be arrested for PDA.. although, I was sent to the principals office for PDA in school!
People have a hard time excepting the gay lifestyle. Especially in Utah, where it is so uncommon.
I can see why the officers were in the wrong, but why is the church even responsible for apologizing? Shouldn't it be the police department? Just because it was done on Temple Square?
I disagree about the church having an increasing negative view all over the world. Of course there are those few ignorant people that don't know anything except rumors..and the few that do know a lot, and disagree with us but I have always been proud to tell people I am a LDS member. In Florida, Georgia, Mississippi. I get a lot of questions about things that other people do not understand, but very seldom do I get negative comments.
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