Gay Rights Are Civil Rights!

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

This morning my daughter forwarded a link to me on the special comment that Keith Olbermann did on Countdown last night. His topic was gay rights and the electoral travesty that took place at the polls in California on that topic last week. Normally I catch Keith's special comments as they happen, but last night I was engaged in some other activities, so I was pleased and surprised that my daughter not only saw the comment, but she was affected by Keith's words enough to pass them along to her email list.

Keith was railing (he always rails - and he does it so well!) on the passage of California's Proposition 8, a measure that constitutionally removed the rights of gay couples to marry in California. (Generally constitutions have functioned to give people rights, not take them away!) Seventy million dollars were spent on that one ballot measure, making it the most expensive election item in the U.S except for the Presidential race.

Keith argued, quite eloquently (as always), that gay marriage does nothing to pose a threat to anyone else's right to marry. He said that all gays want are the same privileges that are afforded to straight people. He noted that up until the second half of the twentieth century nineteen states had laws forbidding people of different races to marry - laws that would have prevented the marriage of the parents of the next President of the United States.

Most of the millions that were pumped into California were spent on support of the measure to ban gay marriages, and most of that money came from the Mormon Church.

Gay activist and journalist Andrew Sullivan had this to say regarding the Mormon energy and gold that went into the passage of Prop 8:

"This was not typical church activism. The Mormon Prophet commanded that every California member give time and money to pass Prop 8. Each member was then contacted by a church authority to make sure the orders from Salt Lake City were obeyed. Mormons were organized into groups to canvas neighborhoods, knock on doors, distribute yard signs, and otherwise organize against gay marriage rights.

"Sounds like standard civic participation, right? But remember, Mormons are not allowed to dissent.

"Those who openly speak disagreement with the church's orthodoxy are routinely excommunicated..."

(Andrew Sullivan's complete comments can be found on the website of The Atlantic.)

It's ironic that the Mormon Church, an institution that was born in bigamy, would deign to tell others how to marry. (Some fundamentalist branches and off-shoots of the Mormon Church are still openly and defiantly pro-bigamy.)

Mormon's prefer to hear their church referred to as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with emphasis on the Jesus Christ part. They want other fundamentalist Christians in America to give them their proper due as also being Christians, something that did not universally occur during Mitt Romney's brief run for the Presidency. Some say that was why they so eagerly poured their monies and energies into California's homophobic ballot measure.

When it comes to the subject of homosexuality, the Mormon church gets plumb stupid. For a good sense of their institutionalized homophobia, check out the 2003 movie, Latter Days. It is the tale of a promiscuous young gay man living in West Hollywood who makes a bet that he can seduce one of the three young Mormon missionaries who have recently moved into his apartment complex. The tale gets dicey when he falls in love with his intended target, and more complications follow when the Mormon Church itself weighs in on the romance.

There has also been a recent controversy playing out in the news that focuses on the Mormon Church's uptight stance regarding sex. A young Mormon man named Chad Hardy came up with the idea of creating a calendar with pictures of shirtless Mormon missionaries. The beefcake product was titled "Men on a Mission," and it sold about a bazillion copies. The Church, however, was not amused. Mr. Hardy was promptly excommunicated, and Brigham Young University, a school completely owned by the Mormon Church, just as promptly withdrew his diploma. Fortunately for Mr. Hardy, the Church's draconian response has sent sales of his calendar through the roof. A sequel is very likely!

Boycott Utah!

But back to the subject at hand...

Anti-gay marriage amendments were on the ballot in three states last Tuesday. California's passed by 52%, older and more conservative Arizona passed it by 56%, and the ancients of Florida rejected gay marriage with a whopping majority of 62 percent. That sounds bad, but the nation's homophobia is gradually lessening as younger, and more worldly (and educated) people, begin to make their mark at the polls. (As an example, similar legislation passed by 61% in California in the year 2000 - so the bigotry has subsided by 9% in just eight years!)

The times, as Mr. Dylan tells us, they are a changin'!