Gay Rights Activists Stage "Kiss-in" to Fight Mormons

Still angry of the Mormon church’s thorough support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, gay rights activists are taking a number of steps to make sure the church knows that they’re fighting back. The latest came this past weekend, when activist staged a nationwide "kiss-in" on Saturday in response to arrests and police harassment in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, as well as in Utah. On July 9, a gay couple were charged with trespassing after security guards noticed them kissing at a downtown plaza owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The case against the couple was dismissed, but the criticism of the Mormon church was ratcheted up at that point. Said Ash Johnsdottir, the organizer for the Salt Lake City kiss-in, "I don’t think that kiss would have turned out to be the kiss heard round the world if it were not for Proposition 8." Atali Staffler, a student at Brigham Young University – a Mormon institution of higher learning – was part of the event, noting that she joined in because she had long witnessed her gay father and his friends struggle with equal rights.

Staffler, who was raised Mormon but is not active in the church, noted that she didn’t think the church should be involved with Proposition 8. "I encourage them to promote the values they believe in and to defend their religious principles in advertisements, but civil rights have nothing to do with religious principles." Elsewhere throughout the nation, gay couples gathered to show support for the nationwide kiss-ins. In Leesburg, Virginia, Ian Thomas noted, "This is America. A kiss on the cheek is OK. It’s got to be OK. If not, we’re in serious trouble."