8: The Mormon Proposition, a documentary exploring the role of the LDS Church in the passage of Proposition 8, will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, deep in the Mormon heartland. From the Salt Lake Tribute:

“We’re bringing the pain of this home,” said Reed Cowan, who directed “8: The Mormon Proposition,” which will have its world premiere next month in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival.

Cowan’s documentary is one of more than 50 titles announced Dec. 3 in the festival’s non-competitive slate.

“It’s really well done, and it’s really thorough,” festival director John Cooper said. “[Cowan] goes very deep, into the Mormon Church and its relationship to the anti-gay-marriage movement, all the way back almost before it really started, all the way back to the ’90s.”

The movie chronicles the 2008 campaign for Prop. 8, which overturned a court decision to allow same-sex marriage in California. In the film, Cowan tracks the LDS Church’s involvement with the Yes on 8 forces — and reveals what the film’s producer/editor Steven Greenstreet calls “an orchestrated strategic campaign” by the church to pass similar ballot measures in other states over the past two decades.

The LDS Church had no comment on the film, a spokesman said Thursday.

The trailer for the film is below.

Charges against a Utah gay couple have been dropped for trespassing after they kissed on LDS property. From the Salt Lake Tribune.

Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill said Wednesday he will not prosecute a gay couple cited for trespassing after they shared a kiss on the plaza.

“The two individuals believed — albeit mistakenly — that they had the right to be there,” Gill said. “Fairness requires that either that property be not open to the public or you condition that [openness] in a way that the person who comes on understands that it is private property.”
…
Gill said his decision not to prosecute this particular case “should not be viewed as limiting” the ability of the church to enforce its private-property rights on the plaza in the future.

“Going forward,” he said, “working toward clarity [on the plaza] serves everyone’s interests in this community.”

Gill’s analysis cites the lack of signs on the plaza that indicate visitors are entering private property “at will,” meaning they can be ejected at any time for any reason.

“The signs will obviously change on the plaza,” Wally Bugden, Jones’ defense attorney said. “The vast majority of the public believed that there was a public corridor.”

Since the incident supporters have staged kiss-ins in Salt Lake and San Diego protesting the actions of the LDS church. Those protests have also inspired a national kiss-in campaign.

Update: A surveillance video (no audio) has been released of the incident showing LDS security roughing up the gay couple.

Over 20 gay and straight kissers rallied near a Mormon temple in San Diego late yesterday, showing their support for a Utah gay couple who were cited and detained for trespassing after kissing on LDS property. From the Fox affiliate in San Diego:

This is the third kiss-in in as many weeks, and appears to have inspired a movement which is now going national, with kiss-ins tentatively planned in the following cities:

The movement is being spearheaded by bloggers David Badash and David Mailloux.

Despite objections from the LDS Church, nearly 100 protestors staged a “kiss-in” on church property in support of Matt Aune and Derek Jones, a gay couple who were cited and handcuffed for holding hands and kissing on the very same church property last. Watch.