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November is approaching, and both sides of the battle over gay marriage in California are revving up their donation drives. The coalition fighting against Prop. 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment, includes everyone from gay and lesbian activists such as GLAAD to municipal power providers PG & E to Brad Pitt. And the proponents of Prop 8 include, well, people of a more or less religious persuasion, with Baptists, the Knights of Columbus, and even Mormons stepping up to the anti-nuptual coffers in a big way, with the LDS Church perhaps being the strongest proponents of the Amendment at a grassroots level.
According to one Mormon pro-Prop 8 website, around a third of all individual donations in California are coming from Mormons. And in cities such as Carlsbad, 98% of all pro-Prop money is coming from confirmed LDS donors, despite the fact that they make up only 2% of all Californians.
The state of Utah is stepping up as well--one tally shows small donations exceeding $120,000 from that sparsely-populated state, with indivial contributions from small business owners, Army contractors, and even employees of "Brigham Apartments."
To be fair to Mormonism, it is important to stress that just like Jews, Catholics, and other Christians, individual opinions within the Latter-Day Saints church may vary from those expressed by its leadership. One pro-gay website, Mormons for Marriage, has posted essay after article after video expressing its opposition to Prop 8 and all the good reasons why good Mormons should follow suit. In a race this pivotal, when all eyes and all checkbooks are focused on California's constitutional crisis, let's hope the blogosphere changes more minds than those preached to by pundits at the pulpit.
Photo of the Mormon temple in San Diego by superfem via Flickr
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So when will Anonymous be protesting Mormons?
I'm not so certain that mormonsfor8.com is a PRO Prop 8 website. Rather, the intent seems to be outing those Mormons who have made large donations to 8, as a way of demonstrating the disproportionate amount of financial support received by 8 from Mormons.
Roughly 40% of the donations over 1000 dollars seem to have come from individual Mormons, and if you inspect the spreadsheet on the mormonsfor8.com website, you'll see that some cities and towns have not been perused by people familiar with who is and who is not Mormon. In towns like Carlsbad, where people with intimate knowledge of the local Mormon community have perused the list, it's more like 90%.
In 1998, Alaska had a similar ballot issue, and $500K of the $600K raised by the "yes" forces came directly from the Mormon church in Salt Lake City, which they may legally do (as do the Knights of Columbus or Focus on the Family). However, it generated negative publicity for the church when news media reported that 85% of the donations came from one source in Utah, for an election in Alaska.
The strategy used for Prop 22 in 2002 in California was to ask individual Mormons to donate directly to Yes on 22. Since most of the Mormon donors are not celebrities, they are mostly unrecognizable by the general public. Only someone from that local faith community would recognize the names. In addition, the Mormon Church conserves its own funds and does not get flack from using its own substantial resources to try to sway an election.
A recent Wall St Journal article
http://www.wsj.com/article/SB122186063716658279.html
documented the degree of involvement by high church leaders. Wealthy donors received conference calls with a church leader in which "$25K" was suggested as an appropriate amount to donate. One man who previously donated 3K coughed up another 25K when called by a church leader to donate more.
The folks at mormonsfor8.com seem to be doing what they can to further highlight the clandestine involvement of the Mormon Church to arm twist its members into supporting 8.
Mormon donations are currently up to 42%... and that only counts the over $1000 donations.
I find it interesting that the Brigham Apartments (a few blocks from the famed Mormon Temple Square) has donated money. I know at least 20% of their tenants are gay.
Nothing like taking gay money and spending it to outlaw the very people who put bread on your table.
So typical Mormon, actually. And that in spite of the fact that up until about 1978, it was actually legal in the state of Missouri to hunt down and kill Mormons.
One would think a people so hated and discriminated against would be reticent to return anti-Christ hatred so vehemently.
what's wrong with people supporting causes that are important to them?
those who are apathetic and expend no energy or means on causes they believe in rarely draw criticism.
i think there is something admirable about anyone who works to support something they sincerely believe in. even if i don't agree with their position- i applaud their efforts to make a difference in the world.