From Deseret News archives:

21 fined for role in gay-rights action at Y.

All admit guilt; 8 others are expected to file guilty pleas

Published: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 11:44 p.m. MDT
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PROVO — An attorney entered guilty pleas Wednesday for most of the 29 protesters arrested in April during gay-rights demonstrations at Brigham Young University.

Fourth District Judge Claudia Laycock ordered 21 of the protesters to pay $200 fines after attorney Scott E. Williams presented her with written guilty pleas from 20 of them. One member of the Soulforce Equality Ride, sponsor of the protests, pleaded no contest.

The other eight who were arrested are expected to provide written guilty pleas at a hearing on July 5. The fines, due July 19, were part of a plea deal that reduced the charges to an infraction. The original charge was a Class C misdemeanor for failure to cease violation of university policy.

Each of the written pleas included the statement, "I took part in a protest on the BYU campus knowing it violated university policy, and I failed to leave when asked to do so."

BYU spokesman Michael Smart confirmed Wednesday that an Honor Code review of the activities of five students who participated in Soulforce activities on April 10 and 11 is complete and resulted in punishments for all five.

BYU placed four students on probation, Smart said. The status of the fifth student is "suspension withheld," a stronger type of probation.

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Matthew Kulisch, 24, said Wednesday he is the one who drew the strongest punishment and that he has decided to leave BYU and enroll at the University of Utah in the fall.

"They kicked me out of the university but upon further consideration decided I could stay under certain terms and conditions," said Kulisch, who is gay and who became the symbol of the Soulforce tour stop in Provo. "The earliest I could return to 'good Honor Code standing' is the end of winter semester 2007."

The Soulforce Equality Ride stopped at 19 colleges, universities and military academies during a five-week tour. Arrests were made in five other cities. At BYU, security took the arrested protesters to vans, cited them and drove them to their hotel.

BYU warned Soulforce months before it arrived in Provo that its protests were against university policy. School officials warned that group members would be allowed to speak with students on campus but only in one-on-one conversations.

Kulisch revealed to reporters that he is gay on April 10, the same day BYU security arrested three Soulforce riders and two parents of one of the riders for attempting to make speeches on campus.

The following day, Kulisch led a march from the Provo Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints down around the outskirts of campus to the entrance at Canyon Road and Bulldog Boulevard.

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