Written: 1/16/2012
The Catholic Church (the church mind you, not most of the people that I know) has a special place in my heart for their continued hatred of my very existence, especially when coupled with their own misdeeds.
However, if you followed the Prop 8 battle in California, you probably kept hearing about the Mormon influence. Millions and millions of dollars crossed over from Utah to fight marriage equality (and it worked, although it may ultimately lead us to a win at the Supreme Court with AFER at the helm, but time will tell). “8,” is the documentary about the Mormon influence, and a lot has been written about the subject.
Prop 8 trial tracker writes about it:
I didn’t know much of anything about the Mormons until I got involved in gay rights advocacy. Then I noticed their name popping up time and again, reaching a culmination in their abominable support for Prop 8, which quite literally took rights away from millions of gay people. And to add salt to the wound, Prop 8 was going down until the Mormons stepped in and saved the day.
There’s a reason that some people have issues with Mormons. It’s because the Mormons have issues with us. The day the Mormon church stops being one of the largest purveyors of hate and bigotry in America today is the day the Mormons earn the right to complain about how they’re treated by their own victims.
It’s a tough issue, one of my favorite bosses was (I saw was since I no longer work for him, he’s still alive, and as far as I know, still Mormon) Mormon and he was incredibly fair to work with, and we have had fantastic conversations (he’s also a history/law professor, and very, very intelligent, so great to chat with).
So I always find it hard (with Mormons and Catholics) to separate how the organization views things with how my friends and acquaintances do. I know it’s something I need to work on, but its a knee-jerk reaction to protect myself.
Update: This is still really hard for me, and something I work on, but it is so hard sometimes to separate the good people I know from the vile organizations they put their stock in.
All my best,
The King of Spades
