One of the primary contributors to the proposition 8 campaign was none other than the Church of Latter Day Saints, an organization whose member Mitt Romney ran for the Republican presidential nomination. As you probably realize this group is headquartered in Utah, which is situated a seemingly safe distance from the humble hills of California. Yet, their message managed to tumble its way into the valleys and ghettos of this golden state, and ultimately their money and their deceptions swayed the hearts of enough Californians to turn the tide for their bigoted proposition.
My anger and disillusionment about this development is only tempered by the supreme irony of all this. Consider: The Mormon church created a culture of fear around the idea of gay marriage, distorting facts and using the visages of children to play on voters emotions in order that they might restrict the nuptial rights of ordinary citizens of the state of California. Rights that are guaranteed to all Mormons.
This all occurred immediately following federal raids of polygamist mormon compounds in Texas, which were havens of child abuse, statutory rape, and domestic violence. This all followed the arrest of fundamentalist Mormon leader Warren S. Jeffs for his role in marrying underage girls to much older men and his practice of polygamy.
Now, I know that today these cases represent a minority of the Mormon population. Yet, that was not always the case. The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints was expelled from the state of Illinois for its practice of polygamy.
In 1862, (Republican) Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Morill-Bigomy Act, which made bigomy a felony punishable by a 500 dollar fine or 5 years in prison. At the height of the Civil War, the issue of marriage and the Mormon church were so prevalent as to attract the attention of the national legislature. This act was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1878 and strengthened by the Edmunds Act of 1882, which created a committee to ensure polygamist suppression in Utah. By 1887, 50 percent of the Utah prison population consisted of polygamists. It wasn't until 1890 that a timely and oh so fortunate "revelation" caused the church to ban polygamy, and with much surprise they received statehood in 1896.
So, this "church" that fought so hard for the right to abuse women and force them into abusive polygamist relationships, this "church" that fought tooth and nail to have the right to marry as they wanted to, this "church" whose scum bag of a founder, "god's prophet," Joseph Smith died a bloody death in prison, these are the people who now support an amendment to the US Constitution to ban marriage between same sex couples.
These people should not even be part of the United States let alone have any say over how its citizens are governed. I want to say something like, "I hope your tabernacles burn." But violence has only increased the mormon resolve to oppress women, gays, and children. Thus, I will say that if you claim to be mormon and you claim to have any responsibility as a human being or as an American, please just think for yourself for one minute.
Think about why any human being should be discriminated against because of race or belief or gender. Because the Mormon church's history is one of hate and violence and abusive marriages. This is the kind of thing the church has worked hard to distance itself from. So why do they continue this legacy by being hateful, oppressive, meddling, and bigoted towards loving human beings who want nothing more than to be treated with equality to have the right to marry.
