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Loading ...Mormons began plotting against gay marriage for decade, memo shows
11.12.2008 9:26am EST
(Salt Lake City, Utah) The Church of Latter Day Saints began putting together a game plan 10 years ago to ensure same-sex marriage would not become legal, a internal church memo shows.
The document, obtained by Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX, was sent by a member of the LDS General Authority to a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, the church’s governing body.Dated March 4, 1997, the memo mentions a meeting with Gordon B. Hinckley, who was then President of the Church, and quotes Hinckley as saying the Mormons need to “move ahead” with the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Hinckley, according to the 11-year old document, suggests joining forces with the Roman Catholic Church.
“The public image of the Catholic Church is higher than our Church. In other words, if we get into this, they are the ones with which to join,” the memo quotes him as saying.
He also warned in the memo that the Church should not be seen as the lead instigator in the fight against gay marriage.
KTVX showed the memo to current Mormon officials who said they could not verify the authenticity of the document but believe it is authentic.
The Mormon Church was one of the leaders, with the Catholic Church and evangelical Protestant churches, in the passage of Proposition 8, the amendment to the California constitution that limits marriage to opposite-sex couples.
The Church put an estimated $25 million into the battle to end gay marriage in California and has become a prime target of LGBT civil rights groups. At one protest, in front of a Mormon temple in Oakland, there were so many demonstrators the California Highway Patrol had to close off a highway exit ramp fearing some demonstrators could be hit by traffic.
In Utah, the Mormon Church says that eight of its temples have been vandalized since the passage of Prop 8 in California.
Some 18,000 same-sex couples have married since the California Supreme Court struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage. That ruling prompted Proposition 8.
LGBT rights groups have appealed the outcome of the vote to the state Supreme Court, arguing the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone, by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians.
The groups in their petition to the court also say that Proposition 8 improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities.
This is nothing new for the LDS. They were nearly completely responsible for the 1998 plebiscite that overrode the Hawaii Supreme Court decision allowing SSM. [May 1993] Hawaii was once a bright spot for equality. Hell, it once was a beautiful place with a Polynesian culture of tolerance and acceptance of human sexuality, then the missionaries arrived, primarily the Mormons. They’ve been at this for 15 years starting when they just overwhelmed Hawaii with Mormon millions.
I graduated from BYU with a Masters Degree in Social Work in 1998. While I was there I was taught the Church needed to do all it could to prevent gay marriage from becoming legal in order to keep married gays and lesbians from attending BYU. You see the LDS church requires that it students abstain from sex unless they are legally and lawfully married. This applies to everyone equally and thus they are not discriminating if a gay or lesbian is kicked out for having pre-marrital sex because they kick straight people out also. If gay marriage becomes the law of the land they will have to allow the GLBT community to attend BYU or risk losing the hundreds of millions of dollars a year that flows through 5 LDS church schools in the form of Pell Grants, Student Loans, research grants, scholarships, and other government funding. Plus the school receives acreditdation from numerous professional organizations that will pull those acreditdations. So the Mormon run universities have a lot to loose. This was taught to me in the classes I took to become a Masters Level social work. It all boils down to money. They are happy discriminating against us as long as they can keep their school funded by public tax dollars.
I’ll ask of all you posters and all who read this. Did you donate anything ? $5.00, 50.00, 100.00, 250.00, 500.00 ??
I live 4000 + miles From California in the Caribbean, and on my fixed income gave as much as I could afford. (not meager life savings) but way over 100.00 ! Just think, what if each of us had been able to give a little more… We may have one by 2 or 4 percent rather than losing by 3 or 4.
A friend told me of his cousin a young black woman, that after she walked out of the voting precinct was thinking about the wording. She had voted for the proposition, thinking she was voting for our rights. And when she heard the news the next day realized her mistake. — OH if we had just donated a bit more. Maybe she would have understood it better and voted as she truly wanted. *sigh* Give a little everyone! Give a LOT, those who can. Just Give to help!
I have read post in this blog of church burnings.
I can certainly understand the disappointment of prop 8 passing but church burnings is sure not the way to go.
First you will be battling every possible denomination possible and if you think the catholic and Mormon church
did some damage think of what it would be like if all 200 other denominations were fighting us also.
If even a few of do something so stupid that will convince the un commited to vote against us next time around.
True the black folks did things like that and things did change but at a terrible cost, and what they did, did not raise their standing in the public eye.
I am a Calif. native now living in Florida we had the same thing here only worse. Our prop 2 passed banning marriage but also banning civil unions too.
Be careful because there is a movement in the works to unwind the marriages (in Calif) that were left intact in Calif. That is their next move.
My Gay brothers and sisters in Calif. You have no time to waste. Do not sit idol. Start to organize with constant demonstrations every week with out letting up.
The opposition thinks this will simmer down and you will finally go away.
If you don’t keep up the demonstrations and make your cause in the headlines you will lose big time and they win.
Remember the sweekest wheel gets the grease.
Make sure the next campaign is not run by anyone from the Log Cabin Republican Party.
How anyone can be a republican and gay is beyond me, and I have heard every argument they have put up, but I have never trusted them.
LDS Church MEMBERS donated the money to pass Prop 8- not the church itself. Also, the buildings damaged were CHAPELS, not temples. (I am for Gay Marriage but am an expert on and just wanted to set the story straight-No pun intended!)
Why do you Americans allow organized religions to make political donations? Isn’t that a violation of your constitution? Shouldn’t these churches lose their charitable status and be listed as lobbyists? In Canada, the Knights of Columbus (Catholic)from the USA were actively involved with trying to stop same-sex marriage in Canada.
As Mormon i very sad of my church for what they did. and not very happy. that why i will resign from my church and there nothing else to say about this mormon church is not true on their issues have never been. it time for gays to stand together and fight what is a right equal for all. let do what we need to do
Some people, huh? These people need to sing some songs with us and cherish the time that we have on Earth instead of condemning us all.
The Mormon Church motivation in supporting Prop. 8 was to gain the favor of the Evangelical movement that never saw or will ever see them as Christians. Instead, they converted themselves into a group that promotes a new form of segregation. With their unsolicited and selfish assistance, society has digressed and become more intolerant and significantly less inclusive. Isn’t it ironic that a church that has traditionally and overtly sponsored polygamy, incest, and subjected young girls to premature marriage could not leave loving, committed same-gender couples to enjoy the governmental protections of marriage?
So, the Mormons spent 25 million to spread head and discrimination. Think of all the food pantry shelves that would have filled!!! The homeless that could have housed!! The foreclosures that could have halted!!! And they claim to be Christian??!!! They’ve sure done nothing to prove it!!!!! Rather, they come across as a group of warped, hateful sinners.
Sean, what you say is valid to a point. Gay political groups need to UNITE and stop all of the petty infighting. Here in Arizona, we had to fight Catholics, Mormons, and Southern Baptists. Believe me, after 37 years in AZ, the Southern Baptists are the WORST! They hate and condemn the other two for being cults and/or calling the Pope the anti-Christ. But they so despise gays they are willing to be in the company of people they despise. This has to stop! The next step they will take, as they are proposing in AZ, is to ban all gay rights! If we unite, we become an unmovable force to bring victory to our concept of “Equality For All”.
The good of this is next time there will be less money donated from the Mormons. In my area a LDS family donated their children’s college fund ($35,000), another elderly couple their life savings ($50,000).
“…a internal church memo..” I think it should be “…an internal…” Other than that, “Sean” makes the most sense…
Instead of examining what the otherside did to win, why are we not looking at what “our” team did to prepare for the fight? Did we have enough cash to fight a proposition that we knew was coming? Are we prepared to back up legal victories through grass roots organizing that involves people and not just online social networks and blogging? We appear to have a great legal team working on our behalf but what about a return on investment with our national organizations or state organizations? Are we as a community showing the true commitment to success we should be or do we need to take time “in the wilderness” and devise our own strategies? Shouldn’t we be asking these questions than focusing on how our opponents beat us? After all didn’t we already know they had this force?
Cry me a river Mormons. You picked the wrong “allies”. You think by attacking us you’ll earn the support of the Catholic and Evangelicals you crave. Good luck. We’re moving ahead with plans to stop your cult and they’ll just let you twist in the wind. Hey if you can’t take your licks you shouldn’t have messed with us.