Gay Kiss Arrests In Utah Defended By Mormon Church
In the wake of one “kiss-in” protest carried out last Sunday and ahead of another one planned for this Sunday, the LDS Church issued a statement Friday defending its Main Street Plaza property rights and its actions involving a pair of men cited there last week for their public displays of affection.
Echoing previous comments made by a church spokeswoman following the July 9 incident, Friday’s statement said the pair were asked “to stop engaging in behavior deemed inappropriate for any couple of the plaza,” which was “more involved than a simple kiss on the cheek.”
“They engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language and had obviously been using alcohol,” the statement continued. “They were politely told that the plaza was not the place for such behavior and asked to stop. When they became belligerent, the two individuals were asked to leave church property.”
The two — Derek Jones and Matthew Aune — were detained by church security, cited by Salt Lake police for trespassing, an infraction of city ordinances, and later released.
The police report stated that Aune said the two had been drinking earlier at the Gallivan Center. After leaving and passing through the plaza, they sat down and he kissed Jones. Aune told police that when the two were confronted by church security and asked to leave, he refused, and he was slammed to the ground as security detained the pair with handcuffs.
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Kalamazoo gay-rights issue will be revisited
KALAMAZOO — The Kalamazoo City Commission is expected to take the first step Monday night in a process that could lead to voters deciding whether Kalamazoo should grant “protected-class” status to gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.
The commission will consider for first reading a new city ordinance that includes revisions from the first anti-discrimination measure that members unanimously approved in December. A subsequent citizen petition drive challenged the measure and resulted in commissioners rescinding it and establishing a subcommittee to attempt to reach a compromise on a new ordinance.
The language coming back to the commission Monday does not change the basic premises, however. It essentially will make it a municipal civil infraction to discriminate against someone in the city in issues of housing, public accommodation and employment because they are gay. Violators could face up to a $500 fine, plus court costs.
The local proposal to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity represents an expansion of existing state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on factors such as race, color, religion and sex.
Proponents of the local ordinance — including the Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality, which proposed the original concept — say they’ll support the new measure.
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Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/kalamazoo-gay…
White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website
Yesterday, our reader Sean Chapin alerted me to the fact that a long list of commitments to LGBT issues on the White House site had shrunk to a fraction of its size. Joe.My.God reported on it as well. He received a letter from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Director of Communications Inga Sarda-Sorensen who contacted the White House regarding the changes. Now see White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website @ Towleroad
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/white-house-e…
GOP official calls on party to become gay-friendly
James Richardson, the Republican National Committee’s online communication manager, talks to Queerty about why he believes GOP must truly become a big-tent party by dropping its anti-gay stance. “The Republican Party has always been, or at least billed as, the ‘crusader’ of limited government intervention and intrusion, which is why I’m baffled we’ve recently adopted this troubling gay-hostile rhetoric by way of appeasing a fraction of the ‘base,’ ” Richardson said. Read more at Queerty.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/gop-official-…
