  We perform a Monte-Carlo study of the lattice two-dimensional gauged
XY-model. Our results confirm the strong-coupling expansion arguments that for
sufficiently small values of the spin-spin coupling the ``gauge symmetry
breaking" terms decouple and the long-distance physics is that of the unbroken
pure gauge theory. We find no evidence for the existence, conjectured earlier,
of massless states near a critical value of the spin-spin coupling. We comment
on recent remarks in the literature on the use of gauged XY-models in proposed
constructions of chiral lattice gauge theories.
