Mormon Outreach

Posted on 11/08/2008 at 11:25 am by admin

Posted by Lee Stranahan

Big protests out here in Los Angeles, with thousands of justifiably angry gay activists shouting ‘Mormon scum!’ at a No On Prop 8 rally. Mormons were a big financial force behind Proposition 8 and many Mormon families gave sometimes gigantic amounts of money to stop gay marriage in California.

One notable exception was former San Francisco 49s quarterback and LDS member Steve Young, who had a No On 8 sign on his lawn. And that’s one reason that I think throwing around words like ‘scum’ to everyone in a certain religion is nothing to be proud of tactically.


I also note that the Mormons are an easy target; black and Latino voters were against gay marriage in big numbers but perhaps an angry mob yelling ‘black scum!’ might not sound quite as hipster as attacking the Osmonds. Maybe it’s that same sense of self preservation that I read about somewhere years ago that lets animal rights activists throw paint on the fur coats of rich old ladies but hardly ever on the leather jackets of Hell’s Angels and Mongols.Here’s a different idea for my combative comrades; transcend anger and focus on love and family. My experience with Mormons personally is that they take the whole family values thing seriously; their kids and even in-laws are very important to them and a priority in their lives. So instead of yelling, how about highlighting the absolute heartbreaking sadness of how gay Mormon kids are often shunned and cut off by their families? This doesn’t just punish the gay or lesbian kids; it punishes everyone in the family. Find those people and use media like YouTube to tell their stories, over and over. It’s just such a waste and shining a light on it can help show why the anti gay rights movement is really ultimately an attack on family values.

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  • J M Ashby

    I really do not understand people who feel as though it is their business what others do with their lives.It shouldn’t matter if someone approves or dissaproved of gay marriage. The bottom line is it doesn’t harm anyone and it is no one’s business who other people get married to.Everyone who voted to ban it, IS scum. Its not their business. It doesn’t hurt them. It doesn’t effect them.I fucking hate projectionists. Do as I say, not as I do.This kind of publicity is basically killing Romney’s chances in 2012. Wether he is involved or not, it makes all mormons look bad.

  • bibimimi

    Tactically, the Anti-Prop-Eight people have been like the McCain Campaign, unfortunately; disorganized, erratic, late-staring, and in the end, flame/blame throwing.They WILL get ‘em next time. Go Organize!

  • bibimimi

    ‘late-starting’dammit! coffee, please!!

  • ceu

    Lee, is there anything the CA courts can do about this? I keep hearing stories about challenges in the courts, but don’t know enough about the CA Constitution to know if such challenges are feasible or if the courts can overrule the results of a direct initiative to the voters.

  • Stranahan

    I think the courts are the right short term avenue. Hard to say whether it will work because this is new ground, really – taking away recognized rights for a class of people through a simple majority ballot process.Meanwhile, there’s the court of public opinion and prepping another ballot fight. I don’t think name calling helps.When the McCain campaign was getting ugly, it was justified for people to take to the streets and angrily yell ‘racist scum!’ – but we would have lost the election.

  • PackyJ

    You are right, Lee.The best tactic is to1. Go to court, based on the very issue you’ve raised – how can a simple ballot process take away the basic rights of a certain group of individuals?Perhaps next on the ballot is an attempt to prevent people of different races from marrying? When Obama was born some 14 states HAD laws like that.2. In the meantime, get organized. The Republicans made fun of Obama’s “community organizer” credentials. The joke turned out to be on them. His campaign was the best organized I have ever seen in my lifetime.That’s how you win.It’s a bit strange to me… yelling “Mormon scum” is not a lot different, in my mind, than yelling “Muslim scum.”

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    “Mormon scum” sounds so…goofy, anyway. It sounds like the imperial lieutenant in Star Wars: “Rebel scum!”

  • Nanotyrannus

    I also note that the Mormons are an easy target; black and Latino voters were against gay marriage in big numbers but perhaps an angry mob yelling ‘black scum!’ might not sound quite as hipster as attacking the Osmonds. Maybe it’s that same sense of self preservation that I read about somewhere years ago that lets animal rights activists throw paint on the fur coats of rich old ladies but hardly ever on the leather jackets of Hell’s Angels and MongolsWhat. The. Fuck.We protest the Mormons because they’re easy to pick on but we’re afraid to confront Blacks and Latinos for fear of getting beat up? That’s just genius. Any other nuggets of stereotypical wisdom you want to serve up?I for one am not ready to lay the blame on Blacks and Latinos. Asians, Whites and plenty of Others showed up to vote in favor of Prop 8. I don’t believe it’s passing was motivated racially or culturally, but ideologically. Religious ideology.You just don’t get it. We’ve been patient. We’ve played by the fucking rules – your rules – and still we stand here today with no national protection against discrimination and no national legal right to marry.Your advice to just be more patient and organize better and reach out more and blah blah fucking blah is especially offensive because it furthers the idea that when YOU are ready to let US have an equal place in YOUR society, YOU’LL let US know.Until then, we should just be patient and stop protesting so much.

  • brutlyhonest

    That’s right, attack someone who is supporting you. Pretty sure the idea behind citing mormons, blacks and latinos is that it is incredible that people who are discriminated against are pushing to make it legal to discriminate against you!

  • animalhamilton

    how can the Mormons define marriage as “a man and a woman?”shouldn’t they define it as “a man and as many child brides as he wants?”and how about the Catholics?how about: “he who hath not sinned” or “do unto others” or “love thy neighbor?”but the Catholics are on higher ground, it’s not like they are hiding decades of child abuse or anything…

  • http://cousinavi.wordpress.com cousinavi

    Now wait a sec…If there’s one white person in Mississippi with an Obama sign on there lawn, must I stop saying “Mississippi is a racist state,” or drawing the secondary conclusion that, all else being equal, someone from Mississippi is likely opposed to equal rights?The Mormons, agreed based on their magic book, funneled huge amounts of cash AS A RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION into a political referendum on the denial or extension of equal rights to another identifiable group of citizens.Steve Young notwithstanding, I do not find it unfair to critique the LDS Church or “Mormons” as a group on this basis.I reject, of course, targeting any individual Mormon BECAUSE they are a Mormon…but chanting anti-Mormon slogans (vis the Church as an institution) is perfectly acceptable (and IMO called for – those special underwear freaks crossed the line this time…baptizing dead Jews is one thing…now we’re talking about LIVING people).Their tax-exempt status should be revoked. Either respect separation of church and state, or cough up some of that tithing.

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    This is a really hard one. Because the Mormon church WAS acting really fucking scummy. the CHURCH. I think your idea about highlighting how this hurts the family is great but Anger is power and it does have a place too.I sure as hell understand the anger, I’m angry too over this. It in a way ruined my “Obama High” when i was so gleeful over the election to realize that prop 8 passed. an amendment to our CA Constitution take away rights of fellow Americans.There needs to be protests, people do need to take to the streets. there needs to be better organization and i will do my part and join the fight. This can not be allowed to continue. I saw the SF Mayor on TV hes great he lays it all out and he pulls no punches. This is discrimination plain and simple and yes the black vote and the Latino vote was a big part of this passing. (the Irony is thick on this one) But the money pumped into MY state by out of state churches like LDS and the Catholics was staggering.Don’t we have a separation of church and state? Oh wait we DO.So why don’t we try to strip the church of the LDS of their tax exempt status. There’s a good way to funnel that anger. It will do more then yelling Mormon scum.http://lds501c3.wordpress.com/Id rather yell “the Mormon church SUCKS” because that’s really what were talking about, the church dictating to its members and getting involved in politics.. oops big no no Mormon church!I fee your pain gay people I’ve been waiting for an Equal Rights Amendment for a very long time too. Progress is often way to slow.

  • Stranahan

    If anger was power, McCain and Palin would have won.

  • http://cousinavi.wordpress.com cousinavi

    If anger was power, McCain and Palin would have won.Fuck off, hippy. Sometimes anger is the only rational response.S’why murder is defined as WRONGFUL killing.

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    Lee if you dont think you can derive power from anger then you haven’t gotten angry enough ;) McCain dont lose because he was angry though his out busts didnt help, it was because he had no vision and Palin well shes not angry shes to ignorant to know what real anger is.

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    *cant* derive

  • yelorose

    What’s going on here? The level of respect has been reduced to what we’ve seen from right wing haters.It’s ok to be passionate about something but come on guys, we’re supposed to be on the same side.