California’s Proposition 8: Open Season on Mormons?
Does that sound like an exaggeration? Read on. If you’re like me, you’ll be amazed and disgusted at the attacks on people of faith who are only expressing their religious consciences through the ballot process, and are doing so in the most all-American ways: Grassroots organizing and small financial donations.
The LDS Church and Proposition 8
According to the 2007-2008 Almanac of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Church”) there are about 770,000 Church members in California. In a letter dated June 29, 2008, the Church’s leaders asked members to “do all [they] can to support [California's Proposition 8] by donating of [their] means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman.”
Proposition 8 would enshrine the traditional definition of marriage in the State Constitution. Traditional marriage had been the only kind recognized in California since 2000, when another statewide ballot initiative passed with 61% of the vote. In May 2008, however, by a 4-3 vote, the California Supreme Court held Prop 22 unconstitutional, thus opening the door to same-sex marriage in the Golden State.
By amending the Constitution, Prop 8’s supporters hope, once and for all, to settle the issue in California. A coalition of religious groups, including all the Catholic Bishops in California, virtually all the Evangelical churches, the Orthodox Rabbis, and many others, are supporting Prop 8 with grassroots volunteers and financial donations from their members. The Mormons, however, are most visible because of their geographic distribution and lay ministry, which lend themselves very well to grassroots organizing.
Unfortunately, Prop 8’s opponents, having achieved through the courts what they could never have achieved by the ballot box, have now chosen to attack not the ballot proposition, but its supporters. And because California Mormons have been so prominent in the “Yes On 8″ campaign, they have become the chief target. Here’s a report on some ways in which that personalized opposition has manifest itself.
Smearing Prop 8 Donors Because They Are . . . Mormons?
Maggie Gallagher at National Review Online points us to this Daily Kos post, which she calls “disgusting.” (I must agree.) Here’s the key excerpt:
[T]he No on Prop 8 folks told me recently that the “Protect Marriage” campaign has raised $30 million dollars–over half of it from the Mormon Church. Now, I have nothing personally against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. . . .
But when the church and its members invest millions of dollars in an attempt to write discrimination into my state’s constitution . . . there will be hell to pay.
So what am I asking you to do?
Some distributed research.
There is a list of a bunch of Mormon donors to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign (in case that one goes down, here’s a mirror with slightly worse formatting.
Here’s what I’m asking for:
This list contains information about those who are big donors to the Yes on 8 campaign–donors to the tune of at least $1,000 dollars. And, as you can see, there are a lot of them. It also indicates if they’re Mormon or not.
If you’re interested in defeating the religious right and preserving marriage equality, here’s how you can help:
Find us some ammo.
Use any LEGAL tool at your disposal. Use OpenSecrets to see if these donors have contributed to…shall we say…less than honorable causes, or if any one of these big donors has done something otherwise egregious. If so, we have a legitimate case to make the Yes on 8 campaign return their contributions, or face a bunch of negative publicity.
There are a crapload of donors on this list–so please focus on the larger ones first. $5,000 or more is a good threshold to start with.
Feel free to use Lexis-Nexis searches as well for anything useful, especially given that these people are using “morality” as their primary motivation to support Prop 8…if you find anything that belies that in any way…well, you know what to do.
If you find anything good, please email it . . . .
Here’s the bottom line for me: if someone is willing to contribute thousands of dollars to a campaign to take away legal rights from some very dear friends of mine, they had damn well make sure their lives are beyond scrutiny–because I, for one, won’t take it lying down.
Translation: If you are a Mormon and you donate to Prop 8, thousands of strangers will try to smear you, in the hope of intimidating you and others into not exercising your right to freedom of speech.
In other words, they want to silence you.
I wonder what level of care and caution the “distributed researchers” will apply to their efforts? Will they be sure that any embarrassing information they find about Mormon donors is accurate? Don’t bet the farm on that one, folks.
And About That Web Site that Makes This Possible
In his exhortations to smear and embarrass Mormon donors to Prop 8, the Daily Kos post relies heavily on a web site that is deceptively named “Mormons for Proposition 8.” The casual reader might think the site favors Prop 8, but he would be wrong.
This is a site, run by members of the Church who oppose Prop 8 and who are unhappy about the Church’s support for the ballot measure. The site’s purpose? Identifying members of the Church who have donated to Prop 8 by posting the names of all donors to Yes On 8 and asking readers to identify those who are Mormons.
In what I consider a monument to sophistry, the site’s sponsors have claimed it is “neutral.” That would be funny if it were not such an outrageous lie. Just review the site for 2 or 3 minutes and decide for yourself whether that is true. While you’re at it, look at the “FAQ” page and ask yourself if the answers given are sincere, or disingenuous and downright snide.
(By the way, I donated $1,000 to Yes On 8, and although some helpful soul has identified me on this list as a Mormon, I see lots of individuals on the list whom I know to be members of the Church, but who haven’t been identified yet. Obviously, the supporters of “Mormons for Proposition 8″ need to work harder.)
A lawyer friend e-mailed the site’s sponsors:
Disclosure of religious association is a matter of constitutional protection and a privilege held by the congregant against disclosure. (Church of Hakeem v. Superior Court, 1 Cal. App. 3d 184 (1980)). Your forced outing to intimidate others would be a violation of civil rights if committed with the color of authority. That you are private and anonymous doesn’t make what you are doing any more commendable.
Make no mistake: These people want to shine the spotlight on Mormons who donate to Yes On 8. By doing so, they hope to discourage Mormons from donating by exposing them to smear efforts like those urged by the Daily Kos.
In other words, these people are just like the Daily Kos writer: They no doubt consider themselves very progressive, but nevertheless want to silence their opponents in the public square.
That sounds an awful lot like this political system.
Harassing Members of A Church – Because of Their Membership
Apart from those repulsive efforts, how else is the opposition to Prop 8 playing out in the lives of ordinary Mormons? Well, here’s a story you won’t read about in the mainstream news media. I received it in a private e-mail:
This weekend we have stake conference. [Ed.: A "stake" is a geographic unit of LDS congregations, and is the rough equivalent of a Catholic diocese.] Our stake conference always begins with a stake temple session on Friday or Thursday night. Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple, and to remind everyone to stay calm and to drive carefully. The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco, very close to the city of Berkeley. Apparently the opposition to proposition 8, the amendment that seeks to make marriage in CA between a man and a woman again, has realized the deep involvement of the [LDS] church and begun to protest right outside of the temple and harass temple patrons. The fastest way to get to the temple from our house is to take the 680 freeway, but the exit is a bit tricky. The off ramp is extremely short and straight uphill. You then make an almost blind left turn, an immediate right and another left into the parking lot.
As we approached the off ramp, I realized there would be trouble. There was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the off ramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the offramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the temple. I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the temple front door.
Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying . . . .
Another e-mail correspondent tells me the Oakland police did not respond to requests for help.
Keep in mind: Not everyone in the Church supports Prop 8. There is no way the Prop 8 protesters at the Oakland temple knew whether or not the members they were harassing had anything to do with the Church’s efforts in support of the measure. They were harassing those people simply because they were Mormons.
As one of our readers notes, “It is more than a little frightening how much the Left is so much enamored with the tactic of attacking the messenger rather than engaging the substantive issues.”
Yes, it is.
_____________
Full disclosure: I am a Prop 8 grassroots worker myself. My wife is Deputy Communications Director for the Yes On 8 Campaign. She had no awareness of this post prior to my publishing it, and the views expressed here are my own.
More on this at The Hedgehog Blog.
John adds a few ponderings: Because of my friendship with Lowell and his involvement with the Proposition 8 efforts I have watched this thing unfold from the beginning. While there is a lot of Mormon effort behind it, there is also a great deal of Catholic effort and I got a robocall the other day from none other that Mike Huckabee (slight shudder there) in support of Prop 8. This is truly an ecumenical effort.
One is almost forced to ask why the Mormons are being singled out for this sort of ugliness. well, having “help” from Mormons in opposition is certainly part of the answer, but I also would think it has something to do with how the primary played out.
Because Mitt Romney’s religion was used effectively against him, if I were opposing Prop 8, one of the tactics I would use would be to divide those united for it along religious lines. By singling out Mormons for these attacks, I would emphasize their distinctiveness from orthodox forms of Christianity, and drive the wedge a little deeper.
Further, creedal Christians cannot readily rise to defense of Mormons in these attacks, lest they be accused “defending the heretics.”
Thus is a real sense the Huckster is responsible for harming the coalition he called me in support of. Way to go there Huckster!
Identity politcs and bigotry have a way of coming back to harm us in fashions we never imagined.
Posted in Religious Bigotry | 19 Comments » | 
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JGV on 21 Oct 2008 at 8:48 pm #
Looks like it’s not over for our Oakland friends.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/17/18545109.php
The San Francisco Atheists and others are planning another “peaceful” (???) protest on Oct. 26. Do these folks understand that LDS temples are closed (except for the visitor’s centers) on Sundays (and Mondays)? I hope they aren’t too disappointed!
Thanks for a fabulous blog! I’m hooked, thanks to finding you through one of your fans, Hugh Hewitt.
PS Lowell–Is this a typo in your article?:
“Keep in mind: Not everyone in the Church is active in opposing Prop 8.” I think you meant “supporting” instead of “opposing” ?
Lowell Brown on 21 Oct 2008 at 9:34 pm #
Thanks, JGV, I fixed the typo!
Lowell
Barak on 21 Oct 2008 at 10:28 pm #
Hi Lowell,
Thank you for the information. This situation will be in my prayers. I must say on a much happier note though. I am a charasmatic Christian. I have many good friends that are LDS. We have been working very hard together in our area to pass this Constitutional Ammendment. This common ground has pulled down many walls and I can see the churches in our area are ripe for unifying and meeting the communities needs. If what is happening in our area is an example of what is happening all over California, then I’d goes so far as to say, McCain has a chance at California in this election. God Bless, and let’s get this one done!
Barak
Omi on 22 Oct 2008 at 8:24 am #
Lowell, you need to fix the same typo on the Hedgehog blog.
pacetbird on 22 Oct 2008 at 8:51 am #
Just to clarify something for your readers. You characterize the goals of the investigation into public donor lists as:
The problem with this interpretation is that it is not supported by the text at all. Rather, what is going on here is nothing different from what any political group does when it investigates donor lists. They are looking for controversial donors who could bring embarrassment to the cause. The DK author clearly explains his purpose:
They aren’t looking to intimidate individual LDSs. Rather, they are looking for LDSs whose donations might reveal them as extremists in some way, or perhaps shady characters. Then, they want to use this information to force them to give the money back.
While the protests at the temple are unfortunate, and I think counterproductive since they instantiate the fears that LDSs have that gay people want to interfere with their religious freedoms, there is nothing controversial about people protesting at an institution which has clearly put its weight behind Prop 8. They were not targeting individual Mormons, but the church in general, which happens to be made up of individual Mormons.
4thnephite on 22 Oct 2008 at 9:33 am #
I get sick from the trash coming from the dark side. If the other side win, their next target will be the Bible. They will claim what Jesus taught would be classified as hate speech.
Prop 8 must pass, so we can worship according to the dictates of our hearts.
This is a fight for the hearts and minds of our children.
God Bless. Joe
glenn on 22 Oct 2008 at 11:28 am #
Truth is such an Anti-Mormon reaction from the Pro Gay Marriage Left is not suprising, It happened with Prop. 22. The Left also went ballistic over LDS objections to the ERA. With the Left they seem to say “you have the freedom of speech as long as we agree with it.”
One further point: Could gay rights interfere with religious right? I say yes! To claim that the States or Federal Government won’t force Gay Marriage down the LDS churches or any other churches throat is wishful thinking at best. Remember polygamy was made public in the LDS Church in the 1850’s, but the laws that interfered with basic religious rights of the LDS (the Edmund Act, Edmunds-Tucker Act, Idaho Test Oath and The Reynolds Case) didn’t come about until the 1880’s. These Acts and Court Case allowed the government powers over religion beyond the issue of Polygamy. Non- Polygamous Mormons suffered injustices under these laws as the Polygamous ones did. The Big Question then is what assurence does a Mormon or any other Church goer have that their church won’t be sued or worse over Gay Marriage? Especially if Gay Marriage is viewed as a “normal,” and to be against it was like being for Polygamy in the late 1800’s. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t happen. History doen’t give one much assurence on this one.
Thank for the great Blog, Glenn
srf1976 on 22 Oct 2008 at 11:43 am #
As a Latter-day Saint and a volunteer for Yes-on-8, I wholeheartedly support the DailyKos campaign. We will spend the next two weeks systematically contacting uncommitted voters . In the other side promises to spend this time looking for dirt on Mormons, I will write them a check today!
Poncho on 22 Oct 2008 at 9:51 pm #
I agree with srf1976! Let them waste their time looking for dirt on Mormons. While it is annoying that they are discriminating against Mormons, Mormons tend to be good people and are hard to find dirt on.
Can one just go to their website and mark everyone on the list as “Mormon”?
Emerson on 23 Oct 2008 at 7:37 am #
According the his profile page, hekebolos, the Daily Kos writer, is Dante Apollo Atkins of Los Angeles. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in Latin and Greek and later founded his own research company, the Pollux Group Inc.
Additional Information:
- CA DSCC elected delegate, AD-42
- Member, CDP Platform Committee
- Vice-President, Los Angeles County Young Democrats
Email: hekebolos@gmail.com
Personal Website: http://www.hekebolos.com
Company Website: http://www.polluxresearch.com
Nate G. on 23 Oct 2008 at 8:50 am #
A few comments:
1) Regarding John’s comments about driving a wedge between LDS and Evangelicals, I received a comment on a post on my blog regarding prop 8 that was exactly to that effect. Here is the link to the post.
and part of the quote..
2) Here is another interesting article that calls into question LDS history in regards to marriage and the author throws in the issue of Blacks and the priesthood just for good measure.
3) For a long time I’ve read and enjoyed your posts. So long in fact that I can believe this is my first time commenting. Perhaps because I’ve been too lazy and hurried to register. I’m so glad to see you didn’t discontinue when the Romney campaign officially ended. Thanks and keep it up!
4) I’m wondering if you wouldn’t mind adding links to my sites, TheMittBlog.com (in temporary hibernation due to real-world work load) and/or PlanetRomney.org, in your “Romney Campaign” section.
Mike Nicholes on 23 Oct 2008 at 9:00 am #
Put a bigger target on my shirt; I donated; from out of state and the nut cases haven’t picked up on it yet or how much it was; but bring them on. Those who protest the loudest usually have the most to hide [from] and are usually the most insecure of the bunch. Sometimes a good fight clears the air.
Josh M on 24 Oct 2008 at 10:12 pm #
It’s been eight years since Proposition 22 (the California Defense of Marriage Act) passed with 61%. How many new voters have been indoctrinated by California’s liberal public education system since then? And how did Attorney General Jerry Brown change the name of Proposition 8 from, “California Marriage Protection Act” to, “Elliminates Right of Same Sex Couples to Marry?” Of course, the Superior Court of California ruled in favor of the change. If Proposition 8 passes, it will be a miracle–but then so was the passage of Proposition 22. Either way, as long as children are being indoctrinated by California’s liberal public education system, we are only hacking at the branches. The solution to the problem? Education vouchers.
JLFuller on 25 Oct 2008 at 11:33 am #
It goes with the territiry. We all knew what we were getting into before we came here. We knew Satan would do what you see happening now but we came anyway because of our committment to Father and Christ. We knew that many of our number would fall away because of their choice to follow the ways of the world. Satan has used these same tactics since the founding of this earth and likely before so few should be surprised. He would make evil seem good and good seem to be evil. He would turn families against each other and split some from the rest. Even the most stalwart and committed would be corrupted and fall away and so some have. The most troubled of us should remember that we cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon.
This is a war. It continues from our pre-mortal life. It is and always has been Satan against God and we are in the middle. We knew we would be. Again we again have to choose. There has always been a battle ground. There has always been some human weakness that Satan uses where he can squeese in to seperate us from Father. This time homosexuality is the battleground. It will be something else next time. It has always been good versus evil and right versus wrong. It has always been about taking us from God.
JLFuller on 25 Oct 2008 at 10:39 pm #
I have read some of the Evangelical comments about Mitt and his part as governor in implimenting his state’s homosexual marriage ruling. I disagree with the notion that a governor has authority to disregard case law and that it is OK to involve his subordinates in a protest. I think every state constitution has proceedures the governor can follow to challenge rulings but none I am aware of allow him to ignore them. To do so would do more harm than good. That isn’t to say the governor had to gleefully agree to the court’s reqirements but I don’t think Mitt did that either. We are a nation of laws just as I believe God is a God of order. We either follow the rules or we make things worse. We can’t pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore.
During my working life, if I had a problem with a judge’s decision I went into chambers and spoke directly to the judge. If I could get a broad interpretation or some latitude in how I implimeted the ruling then I figured that was as good as I could hope for. But I always did as I was instructed because it was my duty. I don’t think it matters whether one is a governor or a case manager like me, you do what you have to do. In our country we expect our government servants to give unto Caeser. Otherwise they should find another job. That goes for governors too – maybe even more so.
rcrocket on 26 Oct 2008 at 7:07 pm #
This attack on the supporters is just plain wrong. I don’t think it is business as usual as one of the posters above noted. In this case, the only reason a selective group of posters is being targeted is that they are Mormon.
Would it be appropriate to stand in front of a synagogue and hurl epithets on the Sabbath because it is known that most Jews support Zionism? Would it be appropriate to make anonymous threats and send anonymous emails to Jews, ridiculing their faith?
In my little valley in Santa Clarita, Mormons have been targeted for anonymous inserts placed in mail boxes. The flyers condemn the Mormon faith, its past position on racial issues, and condemns the recipient for being a Mormon. Dozens of us are getting it.
Bob Crockett
VFRMarine on 29 Oct 2008 at 3:47 pm #
I actually find this quite sad. I understand that some people want the definition of marriage to be between a man and woman, but is it necessary to put it in the state constitution?
I have served this country and fought on both fronts. I am not gay and have no desire to be intimate with a man in any way. I think that we could put our efforts toward a much better cause. If anything, I hope this proposition fails and somebody introduces something else.
I feel that we should abolish marriage in the eyes of the state. I feel that the state should do a civil union and if a church wishes to perform a marriage ceremony, so be it. I think the legal authority should be taken away from a church to perform the marriage and make everybody file paperwork with the state to make the civil union legitimate.
This would go more towards what our founding fathers wanted…separation of church and state. Why is it we can spend millions of dollars on the yes and no cause and we have so many people in the middle of a financial crisis. Why aren’t we helping each other out.
I’ll continue to defend my country and carry out the orders of my superiors, but I find it sad that this is one of your biggest worries. I hope that one day both sides can see the error of their ways and find some middle ground. For now, I will be voting NO on Prop 8 because it isn’t written properly and openly discriminates against people.
alangeorge7778 on 02 Mar 2009 at 3:29 pm #
Put a bigger target on my shirt; I donated; from out of state and the nut cases haven’t picked up on it yet or how much it was; but bring them on. Whenever I’m on a California Vacation I’m treated with respect so it’s a concern that this is happening. Those who protest the loudest usually have the most to hide [from] and are usually the most insecure of the bunch. Sometimes a good fight clears the air.
J 205 Timeline Project « Melodie's Blog on 08 Oct 2009 at 9:11 pm #
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