Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Mormons the victims of bigotry?
A story ran in the LA Times yesterday that detailed the efforts of gay rights activists to vilify the Mormon Church.
Since the push by Mormon organizations in partnership with many evangelical groups to bolster the Yes on 8 campaign, the Mormon church has been receiving hate mail, faced protests and even witnessed the burning of the Book of Mormon. Now they are, “amazed to think there was such bigotry in the country.”
Even a Harvard professor muses that Mormonism is the religion everyone loves to hate.
Well, I’m not a proponent of hate. But I’m pretty sure that Mormons hate, if not a large group of people, then the actions of many of the writers and readers here on 365gay. Why else would they spend countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to deny LGBT people equal constitutional protection?
Some insiders suggest that the Mormon Church worked so hard on the Proposition 8 campaign in order to solidify relationships with mainstream religious organizations. Which just goes to show that we never really leave high school: the proverbial loser in the back of the class will always throw spitballs at the geek in the corner just so the jocks will think he is cool.
Whatever the reason, the distrust and anger directed at the Mormon Church is justified.
This is not an instance of a group of people freely acting upon their faith. This is a moment where one group of people actively campaigned to relegate another group of people to second class status. That is not faith, it is not the word of God and it is definitely not acceptable behavior.
This country has been through a long line of struggles where fundamental rights were denied a group of citizens. Those who opposed that progress have been painted as villains in the American story. Why are the Mormons so surprised that they are now hated as much as slave owners in the South?
Thanks for bringing up Newt, John. If a famous liberal said anything HALF that fanatical and ill-considered, Fox would pillory his ass ’till the cows came home. But when it’s someone from within their own fold, he gets a free pass. “Fair and balanced,” indeed.
Ah well – at least there’s a certain campy humor value in watching a whole group of people get labeled “fascist” simply for speaking up a bit too loudly about its desire to be treated equally. By this twisted logic, German Jews perpetuated the Holocaust by complaining about the first anti-Semitic privations of the mid-30s.
If the Mormon Church wants to live by the soared then they can expect to die by it.
With all consideration to the descenders in this blog, Stonewall was not won by being mamby pamby.
We are on a roll and anyone that wants to approach this with less than Jack Boots and Bayonets is going to find them selves to be a drag on the cause.
We need to be provocative at every point. We must keep our name and effort in the headlines at every turn.
Nute Gingrich Said to day that we were fascist and a grave danger to the public, or words to the effect. He knows better than that but he is planning a run for the Presidency 012.
He will no doubt keep these comments in the press to keep him self visible.
We have come a long way despite our defeat, and anyone in our community that becomes complacent especially now deserves to stay repressed.
We must stay in the headlines.
We must stay in their faces.
I agree that the Mormobn church has brought this on themselves.
Do not be surprised if there is greater inspection of Mormon beliefs given the way we have been treated.
There are many that believe that Mormonism is a cult. I am one the thinks this should be examined the way Scientology has been examined.
They both seem to be cults to me.
Ken: Thanks, we need more insider exposés from men & women, straight and gay who speak with authority and experience on the inner workings of ANY organization or cult that makes it their goal to meddle in government and citizen’s private affairs.
Please arm us with knowledge.
I’m going to step out on a limb and defend their right to exist, PROVIDED they stop their subversive tactics. Otherwise I’ll be the first to not only campaign for a removal of their tax exemption, but I would also move to label them as terrorists and enemies of constitutional government.
As an ex-Mormon, I can say from personal experience that I’ve never been a part of any organization that so meticulously cultivates, and to be frank, gets off on the delusion of persecution and martyrdom. And the press’ access to information on the church and what it’s about is very tightly controlled. The reality is that they spend far, far more time teaching about the persecution and murder of Joseph Smith than on the crucifixion of Christ. And make no mistake about it, the Catholic Church pales in comparison in terms of totalitarian rule, extorting money from members (tithing), and the interpretation and packaging of scripture so that members are not bothered with the inconvenience of having to think for themselves; study guides are available for everything (available for sale in bookstores located in every meeting house), and members are taught that the one unforgivable sin is to deny the word of God- so of course they’re terrified to speak up when something just doesn’t make sense.
I thought that the Constitution allowed for separation of church and state. How happy would the churches be if the government got involved in church affairs as the churches get into politics. The churches are all one sided don’t interfere with them but they can their noses into everyone else’s business. Let them stick to the soles of people who need and want to be saved. See how they react when people question and protest. They are shocked and amazed that people are boycotting.
Mormons are a bunch of delusional, inbred fools. They need to be taken down for a plethora of reasons, not just because they are rabid homophobes. They are a mustard stain upon the white shirt of humanity.
I do NOT hate the Mormons; I hate their sinful, reprobate and misleading behavior.
When my dog misbehaves, I don’t beat him; I gently guide him to another, more correct and acceptable behavior. I do this thru time-outs and by correcting him at the instant that he misbehaves, and so it thru a boycott, we will get the Mormon attention to their wrong and damaging behavior.
We aren’t going to use the tried and true measures that the hijackers of Christian faith have used against people who disagreed or thought differently.
The Mormon guise of “victimhood” is woefully transparent. That may have worked yesteryear, but those days are over!
The Mormons and their supporters can chose the path of enlightenment, or they can be boycotted until they achieve the civilized behavior and responsibility of living in this country and honoring the civil rights of ALL of its citizens.
We will not settle for less!
rjb: Thanks for the insightful comment. Please collect your thirty pieces of silver on your way out of the forum
It was reported on 365gay.com that the Mormon church has been working on the ati-gay legislation for 10 years, so how can they say that they are being vilified? It is the gays and lesbians that are being vilified by the Mormon church. I do not advocate violence nor destruction of church property, but the Mormon church seem to be sitting in a position that they made for themselves, however hypocritically it is.
rjb, there’s a gay civil rights movement going on in the US. It’s kinda big and affects the whole country.
What’s ultimately important is how this plays out in public opinion. The Mormons, backed up by some of their religious allies, are playing the victim card with the public. They have enough resources at their disposal to mislead the public, just as they did with Prop 8, especially if gays do not make an organized effort to counter them.
A suggestion to gay rights leaders and organizations: call on our allies in the religious left to organize and speak out against the religious right. That’s one of the most effective ways to undermine the authority of the religious right with the public.
Thank God nothing else is going on anywhere in the world. (Like the recent decision of a Nepalese court to grant full rights to gay people, or the upcoming Russian-Belorussian pride festival).
365gay used to carry news about all manner of LGBT-related issues and events from across the globe. Now it just seems obsessed with flogging this very, very dead horse for all it is worth. For the majority of your readers, proposition 8 was an irrelevance even before it was voted down. Why, o why can you not let it rest now? I never thought I’d say it, but leave the poor Mormons alone. I wish the Californians luck in their ongoing struggle for full recognition of their partnerships, but elsewhere in the world people are suffering genuine discrimination.
And from here, the very vocal protests in California are beginning to sound increasingly whiny, and increasingly hysterical.
victims my @ss they brought this boycott upon themselves.
http://queersunited.blogspot.com
The Mormon Church has violated the sacred separation of state and church. They have crossed the boundary. Their tax exemption and status of 501c3 must be revoked. Then they have to pay the taxes on the 1/10 collected from millions of Mormon members. The Mormons were the oppressed people in 1800s. Now they have become the oppressers in 2000s. I have no doubt that the Heaven would appreciate having diversity in the Kingdom that include the eternal married same-sex couples.
Finally when I was a Mormon, I got MANY sexual passes from the male Mormons within the Mormon churches. Many of them are married. It is pitful to see them keeping denial to themselves. I know that once the Mormon Church opens itself to gays and lesbians, its membership would be expanded beyond its wildest imagination.
Signed by EX-Mormon.