At the end of the walk, 24 people staged a die-in, with Kulisch the first to walk onto campus and fall to the ground as if dead. The march and die-in were to symbolize the suicides of LDS gays hurt by a lack of understanding within the church's culture.

Before the march began, BYU officials warned Soulforce members and students that the die-in was against university policy and would result in arrest.

Kulisch and three other students who are not gay — Timothy Burt, 18, Lauren Jackson, 19, and Alexander Liberato, 22 — participated in the die-in. The fifth student, Emil Pohlig, 24, joined the march only.

"I didn't get arrested," said Pohlig, who is gay, "but they considered my participation with Soulforce as advocacy of a gay lifestyle so they put me on Honor Code probation till the end of this year."

Kulisch and Burt were among those whose guilty pleas were entered on Wednesday. The others included former BYU students Michael Cramer and Daniel Holsinger.

Kulisch said terms of his withheld suspension included avoidance of all contact with gays.

"That's rather difficult to do because one cannot determine who is a homosexual by looking at them," Kulisch said.

He also would have been required to read talks by Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Boyd K. Packer of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve.

Kulisch and Pohlig said the rulings did little to clear up the vagueness of BYU's policy on gays. BYU does allow gays to enroll but the Honor Code prohibits any gay behavior or advocacy of a gay lifestyle.

The terms provided to Kulisch stated that romantic touching and hugging would not be allowed.

"This was slightly more specific about the actual physicality of certain situations," Kulisch said, "but it's still fairly vague. It still uses the phrase 'including, but not limited to.' That makes me wonder what else is included. Obviously, the part about 'anything which advocates behavior' is completely vague. Vagueness bothers me."

It's what drove Pohlig to decide, long before Kulisch, to leave BYU and enroll at the U.

"Honestly, I thought they would suspend me," Pohlig said. "I was surprised they only put me on probation, but it was really stressful last semester trying to deal with everything, and it's been too stressful all along."

BYU's Honor Code bans sexual activity outside marriage and advocacy of a gay lifestyle.

"The honor code is directed toward behavior, not orientation," BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins has said.

Kulisch said he was pleased with the plea arrangement and that Soulforce has kept its promise to pay the fines for everyone who was arrested.

"There have been accusations that Soulforce has left people high and dry, and that's not true at all," Kulisch said.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com