Video: US protestors stage ‘kiss-in’ outside Mormon temple

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Around 100 gay and heterosexual couples held a ‘kiss-in’ outside a Mormon temple in Salt Lake City to protest over a couple who were stopped by security guards for embracing on its property.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped bring about Proposition 8 in California, which banned gay marriage.

Matt Aune and his partner Derek Jones had been spotted hugging and kissing by security guards on the temple’s plaza last week and were told to stop.

When they argued, guards said public displays of affection were not permitted on temple property and the couple were handcuffed.

They were lated cited by police for trespassing.

On Sunday, around 100 gay and heterosexual couples met at the plaza’s south entrance, which is public property, to exchange hugs and small kisses.

In a statement given to the Salt Lake Tribune, church spokeswoman Kim Farah said that the men were “politely asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behaviour – just as any other couple would have been.”

“They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property,” she said.

A police spokesman said the pair had been cited with misdemeanor trespassing, adding it did not matter why they had been asked to leave.

No altercations happened at the kiss-in.

Scroll down to see KTSU-TV’s coverage of the protest.


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