Good As You

There were no cops, no security, and no confrontation. There was LOTS of media attention from both TV and print reporters, and they were fabulously supportive. It was an unusually sweet moment. A lot of us know each other, so this was like a family get together. Some fried chicken and potato salad would have been perfect!

Of course LaBarbera would be offended by this display! No whips, no leather, not even a hint of handcuffs! Just people in broad daylight in regular boring clothes *kissing*--and there were *women*!

Something that's bugging me about The Great Nationwide Kiss-In that's planned for August 15th:

I think it's unfair to everybody else in the country that, to date, only California and Utah have had the chance to hold kiss-ins in front of Mormon temples.

And now that these two states have had their fun, it seems like the Kiss-In leadership is starting to say, OK, that's enough, time to back off and show how nice we can be to the Mormon church.

That would be the wrong call in my opinion for this August 15th action.

Let the LDS moan and gripe. Targeting their church does not bring the downside they claim it does. And, in any case, holding a kiss-in on a public sidewalk in front of a church building is not exactly "targeting" … it's more like taking advantage of a visual that will have more impact for viewers than say, kissing in front of a downtown gov't building.

Keep this in mind about the Mormons:

1) They're uniquely vertical (i.e., every congregation follows the exact same instructions, which all come from Salt Lake; and all funds are controlled by Salt Lake as well). You don't have to worry about accidentally protesting in front of a friendly congregation's building … all congregations send all their funds to Salt Lake for redistribution and the LDS command-and-control structure is such that the risk of friendly fire is eliminated.

2) They're uniquely geographical, which, combined with their vertical organization, is why they're such a potent political force (the LDS might not be a huge % of the population, but they've got buildings and members located in nearly every district in the country). We should be taking advantage of their huge investment in building construction and using it to further our own goals.

C'mon, Mormon temples make great backdrops for kisses. My advice would be, no matter where you're located in the country, get yourself to the nearest Mormon temple on August 15.

By the way, here are a couple resources for locating the nearest Mormon temple or chapel in your neck of the woods:

http://www.lds.org/temples/alphabetical/0,11202,1901-1,00.html

https://maps.lds.org/