To: my friend who supported Prop 8 but won't actually allow others to talk with her about it

[jan_andrea]

Honey, I'm sorry you're feeling persecuted. I really am. I think hatred or vitriol towards any individuals involved in the situation is wrong.

HOWEVER.

Posting links to Mormon sites that moan, "Oh, we're so persecuted! People are picketing our churches!" is a non-sequitur. The LDS church bankrolled a hell of a lot of negative advertising that *truly did* make misleading claims in order to scare the uninformed into voting for Prop 8. They tried to -- and in many cases, succeeded in -- using pressure tactics to force their members into voting for it (which you well know).

Those are facts. "Oh, we're so persecuted!" does not change the FACT that they FIRST persecuted others in a very legitimate sense (i.e. not merely picketing and protesting, but actually removing rights!) who are simply trying to have a normal life. IT IS WRONG TO TAKE AWAY CIVIL RIGHTS. PERIOD. Two consenting adults who want to become a family and are not otherwise legally barred from doing so (i.e. siblings, whatever) should not be forced to separate by a religious group or a group of religions; religion DOES NOT belong in legislation. If the Mormons or the Catholics or whoever doesn't want to marry gays and lesbians in their churches, that's fine! Nothing in CA state law was going to force them to! All these people want is to have families like heterosexual families have them, with the rights and responsibilities that go with them. Just because your Prophet says no doesn't mean that people *not even in your church* have to abide by his rules.

Personally, I don't care if Joseph Smith appeared to you in a rain of gold and said unto you, "Vote YES on Prop 8 or face immortal hellfire!" It's still not right for your religion (and others like it, lest it be said that I am singling out Mormons; Catholic hierarchy is just as guilty) to force that decision on an entire state.

I need to know that you understand this. You voted to take away another person's rights based solely on what you were told by your church, as far as I can tell. That's what I can see.  If you didn't vote for it, GREAT! Keep me as a friend and I will put it behind me. But if you did vote for it, I really want you to take me off your friends list. I genuinely do. I think that (if you voted for it) what you did was incredibly wrong. Amazingly so. I can't live with that. I'm not going to defriend you until I know for sure what actually happened. If you don't defriend me, I will assume that you voted against it, and YAY! that would be great and I won't say another word about it. But I expect you to be honest about this; if you can't stand by your vote, how much *worse* is that than the actual vote itself?

Comments

[justsurvive.livejournal.com]

can i just clear one thing up? its not the church that donated whatever amount of money for ads and whatnot. it was the people in the church. very different.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I don't know; I hear people going on all the time about how the people *are* the church. If higher-ups encouraged "the people" to donate, then to me, it boils down to the same thing. Maybe even worse, from a social perspective.

[justsurvive.livejournal.com]

the higher ups didnt even encourage voting one way or the other. they just reminded of the doctorine that marriage should be between a man and a woman, they never said "VOTE NO" or "vote yes". but some members took it that way and it all spiraled out of control. the church would never donate money to politics. the weathier members might of. but its not the church that told them to do so. especially not the prophet. in washington(where i live) we got the same exact message that the californians did. it just happens that some members took it upon themselves (im quoting that friend i mentioned in my anti prop 8 entry)"fight for religious freedom and traditional marriage".
i hope you know me enough by now that i am for gay marriage. im personally ashamed on how californians reacted to it all. im ashamed that the californian mormons reacted that wAy because now all mormons are getting a bad rap. this is why churches should stick out of politics. it just leaves a bad image when its all over

[mercy-rain.livejournal.com]

Oh, please. "We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman." - HOW is that not a clear and overt request from the First Presidency to vote a certain way?

[justsurvive.livejournal.com]

that was not the message we recieved from the first presidency. it may have been a misguided message from the pulpit from some other leader, but not from the prophet.
im lds, i never received that message.

[mercy-rain.livejournal.com]

The following letter was sent from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Church leaders in California to be read to all congregations on 29 June 2008