Soulforce is asked to stay off LDS land

PROVO — Soulforce Equality Riders planned to visit Temple Square and volunteer at the LDS Church's Welfare Square Cannery in Salt Lake City today before taking their message about gay and lesbian issues to Utah Valley State College on Wednesday and Brigham Young University on Thursday.

But officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have asked Soulforce not to enter Temple Square or the cannery or any other church-owned properties, a request Soulforce members equate to a ban.

A year ago, officers at BYU arrested 29 Equality Riders for demonstrating on campus — property owned by the LDS Church — and the university had already asked the group to stay off campus this week. So has BYU-Idaho, which the gay-rights advocacy group plans to visit next month.

"We are being told, beyond being barred from our schools, that we are barred from the very churches of our birth," Equality Rider and former BYU student Matt Kulisch said in a statement issued by Soulforce.

He told the Deseret Morning News on Monday that he had been "extremely excited" about taking the other Equality Riders to Temple Square and volunteering at the cannery. He told the newspaper he was "very disappointed" by the church's decision.

LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the Equality Riders would be welcomed at Temple Square if they don't demonstrate.

"Basically, everyone is welcome on Temple Square," Trotter said. "We have millions who come here every year. The last thing we want to do is turn someone away."

In this case, church officials chose to do so because they believe the members of the group will demonstrate. That belief is based, in large part, on the group's actions last year at BYU, when the administration allowed the group on campus on the condition that they only engage in one-on-one conversations.

Five people were arrested when they began to speak to large groups. Another 24 were arrested the next day when they were told to stay off BYU property but instead staged a die-in on a campus corner.

"We don't allow anybody to (demonstrate on Temple Square)," Trotter said. "If that's the reason they're coming, they're not allowed to come. Given the group's track record, we have reason to believe it was about advocacy and disruption."

The church informed Soulforce via a letter signed by Brent Roberts, director of church headquarters facilities. The letter said "groups or persons with a history of demonstrating or protesting are asked not to enter Church properties."

The letter pointed out that Equality Riders have been arrested at other schools this year.