A courageous Mormon begins testifying earnestly (and exceedingly calmly) against Prop 8 in church … and the LDS bishop turns off the microphone!
If only more of the faithful could be so brave …
The video speaks for itself:
More Mormons (and more LDS Fast and Testimony meetings) like this one, please.
Bravo, sir!
Any chance a Maine Catholic or two might find the gumption to take a similar stand in the coming weeks?
It’s time to stand up and face down these swiftboating political false prophets.
CB: When did you decide you were going to be the one to make “8: The Mormon Proposition” and what factor(s) drove your decision? What aspects of your own background or of the Prop 8 campaign brought you to this project?
RC: Truthfully, this film started out as an exposé on the problems of gay teen homelessness in Utah’s “Zion” and an examination about WHY otherwise loving parents would kick their kids out on to the streets just because their kids are gay. But as the weeks and months unfolded in our project, I began seeing that history demanded our project be larger in scope. Slowly, but with great force, our focus shifted to what I believe is the “touchstone” of Mormon ideology regarding homosexuality…and that is exclusively Mormon efforts to get PROP 8 on the ballot in California and see its passage. It’s the case against Mormons and what I believe has been a decades long work to damage gay people and their causes.
PROP 8 is truly the most obvious, shining example of what is at the root of Mormon belief about gay people. As to what factors drove my decision to make the film what it is today, they were personal really and deeply rooted in something that is fundamental to my character. Human suffering cuts me to the quick. And when I obtained the entire LDS call-to-action broadcast (transcripts and audio) that was heard by thousands in California, as a former Mormon myself, I knew statistically speaking, that at least ten percent of the Mormon youth who heard the call to action, were gay. I hurt over the thought of what they must have felt sitting in those pews, hearing their church leaders launch an assault against gay people. I went in the direction of the fires of their pain, and it’s my prayer this film will be a part of putting out the fire of that pain in their lives. What the Mormons did and what they continue to do against gay people needs to be a matter of record, because it is spiritually criminal. When these young people sitting in the pews grow up, I hope they can turn to my film and get the message that it’s OK to leave the organization that pulls them to its breast tenderly, while choking the spiritual life right out of them through assaults on their very civil rights.
CB: When you started, did you have any idea that the question of marriage equality generally, or Mormon involvement specifically, was headed for its current high level of national awareness?
RC: I’m continually thrilled to see this issue rise in prominence. It gives me hope in people. When I started, I knew there were literally THOUSANDS of people out there who want my partner Gregory and myself to be married…to enjoy the same civil rights as our non-gay counterparts. And I am so damned proud of the good people in the American citizenry who are becoming our allies in this fight. The scales are tipping in our favor, and it feels good.
CB: Can you give us an update on where the project stands? Distribution, release dates, websites, scheduled screenings, or any other news?
ITS CRAZY MAKING A FILM!!!! So many things to update you on! The film is in edit and in mid-May I get to see the first cut of the film. After that, adjustments will be made and we’ll be solidly headed towards the finish date of June or July.
Distribution will hinge on interest and buzz generated in film festivals. I’m really hoping SUNDANCE screeners give our film a fair look and choose to include it in their upcoming festival. Can you imagine the press that would happen if our film were to premiere in Utah at Sundance? It would be explosive! So, SUNDANCE is my first hope. But they are such a pristine festival, that MANY great films don’t make the cut. If we don’t we’ll shop it around to other festivals. I have received MANY high-level inquiries about the film though, so maybe we won’t need to do festivals. I just keep thinking: ONE THING AT A TIME. First we’ll finish it, then we’ll work on the other stuff. Right now it’s all about making this the most explosive, compelling piece of documentary film-making you’ve ever seen. And as I look at the wealth of material we have obtained, I just have to say: BRACE YOURSELVES.
CB: As busy as you’ve been, I was watching some footage of the crowds at the California Supreme Court’s Prop 8 hearing in San Francisco and I think I spotted you. Were you there?
RC: Indeed I was. Me and a little Mormon group called AMERICA FOREVER. I’ll be interested to see what the Mormon Church thinks of what their members had to say that day to the gay people on the sidewalk.
CB: What challenges, if any, did the project face in the course of filming? Any “war stories” related to technical, financial, logistical or other aspects that you’d like to share? Any experiences with your interview subjects that you’d like to recount?
RC: The greatest challenge I’ve experienced is the trauma within the families Greg and I are attached to that are Mormon. So many of our Mormon relatives, on learning of the content of the film, have begged us not to release it. It’s been excruciating to be in a position of having the material we have, having the sense of moral obligation to get it out, and yet feel sad that it will likely hurt good, moral, loving family members who still are attached to the Mormon machine.
The next greatest challenge has been the all-out assault of Mormons that came after my interview with Senator Buttars. KSL TV’s web site hosts the comments of cruel, cruel people who have slandered and defamed my good name for no other reason than what they have “heard” about me. Some of those attacks have been so hurtful. So false. For example, I read on KSL’s web site comment board recently something like “Reed left his wife and little boy to be in the arms of his partner Gregory Abplanalp.” That couldn’t be further than the truth and Mormon-owned KSL actually allows a falsehood that they themselves know is untrue to remain in perpetuity on their web site for all to see. (On that note, my ex-wife left me for a doctor nearly twice her age and I didn’t have interaction with Greg until two years after my divorce). Senator Buttars, Gayle Ruzicka and all whom they are connected to have worked to tear down my character through out and out lies and that has been painful. My film will have the truth about Senator Buttars and Gayle Ruzicka and the Eagle Forum and the Sutherland Group and America Forever. I only wish that those who aligned themselves with the ideologies of these groups would also seek truth, rather than attacks such as they have. These have been my war-stories.
As to interview subjects: I have four hard drives full of interviews. And I can tell you this: the most vitriolic and hateful interviews DO NOT come from gay people or their allies. In actuality, the gay people and gay allies I interviewed were VERY kind (for the most part) about the LDS church and its people. I felt the spirit of God when I talked to these people. I did not feel it when I talked to Gayle Ruzicka or Senator Buttars or America Forever’s people. What does that say about all of this? Hmmmm…
It was also interesting to see certain things come up in the film in two different states…people who had never met each other… with similar stories about private visits to Mormon Prophet Spencer W. Kimball’s home that they all independently characterized as “prurient.” Some highly credible people with this information. People with name recognition.
CB: Without your interview of a certain Utah state senator, Buttarspalooza never would have happened. Any comment on the brouhaha that erupted after Senator Buttars’ remarks were made public?
RC: OY! That’s my comment! OY! It was explosive for sure. International press! And what we saw at that point is nothing compared to what will likely happen when the film is released.
CB: According to Senator Buttars, you assured him that he would be allowed to see his work and approve his part before you released it. Are you ready to apologize for your unfair treatment of The Honorable Senator from Utah?
RC: He’s a liar. And I have recorded conversations and interviews to substantiate my position that this man lied, ducked and covered when put under pressure. Senator Buttars owes me an apology. And he owes people an apology. In twenty years as a journalist I have never once cut a deal with someone to let them see something before air. It’s ridiculous. He’s ridiculous.
CB: How did ABC 4 obtain that Chris Buttars interview footage?
RC: I saw Rich Piatt with KSL and Chris Vanocur [of ABC 4] outside Buttars’ office the day of the interview. I told them why I was there. Chris Vanocur asked for the footage. I let him see it. He and his managers found it newsworthy, seeing that Buttars had said these things while Senate business was going on without him. They asked if they could air portions. I obliged. No big woop. I did not plan to release the footage before the interview, and frankly, didn’t plan in the weeks after to release it either. But Chris asked….
UPDATE: West Ridge Academy is licensed by the State of Utah, and their license is up for renewal this month.
We received an e-mail reply from L.J. Dustman at the Utah Department of Human Services, Office of Licensing.
The appropriate contacts are:
Bonnie Stuver ( BJSTUVER at utah.gov), and her supervisor
Jeffery Harris ( JHARRIS at utah.gov)
By Eric Norwood
Republished with author’s permission
Further info at Mormon Gulag
This story is about Eric Norwood’s personal experiences at a place called The Utah Boys Ranch, which models itself as a “tough-love” prep-school, but while Eric was there, he witnessed some unbelievable atrocities. It is a Mormon-funded and staffed facility, and religious indoctrination is a fundamental aspect of the school. There was sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, suicide, staff corruption, and escape. A major Utah political figure, Senator Chris Buttars, was the executive director while Eric was there.
This is Eric’s story:
His filthy digit tasted like rust and fish. “I can hurt you without leaving any marks,” Brent growled as I writhed in agony on the ground. I struggled for breath as he mounted my back, put his finger in my mouth, and pulled back on my cheek, fish-hooking me. The pain was incredible. I tried to beg him to stop, but the words would not come.
After he finished beating and bludgeoning submissiveness into me, he pulled me up by the rope that was lassoed around my waist. The wool army blanket I had fashioned as a skirt had shifted askew and I stood there in my boxers bleeding from my nose, humiliated.
My green Utah Boys Ranch t-shirt had been ridiculously stretched out and looked more like a low cut blouse. I loosened the noose around my waist and pulled the itchy blanket through the loop and folded it over so it looked like a brown bath towel secured by a belt. He wasn’t satisfied, he wanted more. I just wanted out of this classroom. I started to think about how I got here.
The Utah Boys Ranch appears to be a kind of tough-love school with a Christian-esque undertow. My parents thought as much when they employed its services in hopes of corralling their spiritually wayward son.
Being kidnapped was probably the last thing I was worried about at 15 years old. I was staying at my grandma’s house that fateful night. My step-dad and I had been at war since I had refused to go to seminary, a church service for Mormon kids in high school that began at the ungodly hour of six in the morning.
I loathed early morning seminary more than the three hours of my Sunday regular LDS church service consumed, or the three hours on Wednesday nights. My opposition, paired with my step-dad’s religious fanaticism, resulted in being grounded almost to the point of indentured servitude. Grandma’s house was my sanctuary. Ironically, when I looked up at the clock that next morning – as two imposing silhouettes entered the house my mom grew up in – it was five minutes to 6 a.m. on Valentine’s Day.
I was camped out on the sofa bed in the TV room with a plate of leftover lasagna from the fridge. It was half eaten and a Roseanne re-run was playing when they first walked in. They looked around as if they had been told where to go, but hadn’t quite envisioned it right. They looked to their left, saw the terrified eyes of a 15-year-old, and pounced. They shoved clothes and shoes on me and I was gone before I was able to think about which way I should run. They told me very little. Their first names were Paul and Barry.
Barry was a white guy, a big mother. At least 6’5″, and I would not be surprised to hear that he weighed more than 300 pounds, but he was not fat. Paul was shorter and had a darker complexion. He was big too, and meaner than Barry. He turned to me when we first got into their white mid-sized rental car and said, “You have a choice. You can be cool and get on an airplane with us and be there in a couple of hours, or you can sit back there with handcuffs on for the next 12 hours. Non-stop.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, still in shock.
“Utah,” Barry answered casually from the passenger seat, without turning his head. “We are from the Utah Boys Ranch, Eric, and your parents have asked us to take you back with us.”
“What?” My head was spinning. I felt like I was going to throw up. There is no way that this was happening. My mom would never allow this. Utah? What the hell is a Boys Ranch? I couldn’t breathe.
“I guess we’re driving,” Paul said odiously.
I knew the child-lock would be on and as I saw the familiar houses of my grandmother’s street pass by, I started to roll down the window. We weren’t going fast enough for them to notice yet and the warm Agoura Hills climate didn’t tip them off. I rolled it down enough to fit my arm out and open the door from the outside when Paul paused at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill, looked back at me, and stopped the car.
He shoved the gear into park and pulled handcuffs out of somewhere and told me to give him my wrists. I sat there cuffed for a moment when I realized that I really would die from this feeling in my chest – a physical manifestation of angst. My heart was beating furiously, and I knew that I couldn’t last 12 hours.
“You can take me on a plane. I’ll be cool.”
“Now that’s more like it,” Barry said kindly. “My wife will be happy.”
The first person I met in Utah was Senator Chris Buttars. I had no idea who he was until that point.
All I knew was that he was to be feared, and I was scared to death of him from the moment I first saw him.
“Sit down,” he squawked in a loud, high pitched, galling voice that sounded like a cross between a buzzard and an old cowboy. He continued to make it very clear that I was at his mercy. He told me who he was – politically – and the influence he had. If I ever wanted to leave I was to do what he said. “How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” I mumbled.
“Three years might not be enough for you. I can have a judge order you to be here until you are 21,” he croaked. With that he sent me off to be “changed and put on work crew.”
I was led down a long hall of doors with nameplates. I had no clue what kind of place this was. I didn’t see any cows or horses…no sign of what I thought a “ranch” would resemble. Paul took me into a small room that was no bigger than a broom closet, which was stacked to the ceiling with three colors of cloth, blue, green and brown. There were green t-shirts, blue t-shirts, and blue jeans.
There were also brown army wool blankets, and I remember thinking that I didn’t want to sleep under such a coarse covering before I was told to “put it on.” I was told to wrap a thick, itchy blanket around my waist like a towel and wear it like a dress.
I was then given a “leash” made of climbing rope and what I think was a square knot to tie around my waist.
I had never imagined being tethered and walked like a dog, but here I was, being walked like a dog towards a cluster of about 12 other boys. They were lined up facing a wall while two large men in red sweatshirts watched them from a couple of chairs off to the side.
Some of the boys had camouflage pants on, a few others wore dresses. I wondered how long I was to be in this blanket dress. I was later told that it was so I wouldn’t run away – and they were right – I literally could not run in this humiliating getup. I could barely get a full stride walking.
That’s when I saw Brent – or ‘Captain America,’ as he was called disparagingly – for the first time. My leash was handed off to him, but he told me to wrap it around my waist and go join the group of young men who were standing with their noses touching the wall, all spread out about arms length from each other.
I turned to the boy who was standing to my right and asked him how long he had been here, but before I could get my question all the way out, my forehead careened into the carpeted wall in front of me. A sharp pain stabbed the back of my head, and suddenly bad breath filled my nostrils. “Are you talking on my work crew, boy?” a red-shirted man screamed at me.
My head was ringing. I was still trying to piece together what had just happened when I looked behind me and massaged the pain in my head. Suddenly my legs fell out from underneath me and I was on my back.
He had just slammed my forehead into the wall, and now he had put his foot behind mine and pushed me, sending me to the floor flat on my back.
He stood over me and bawled, “Don’t look at me. Don’t look around. Don’t you MOVE without permission! You don’t do anything without permission! If you talk, I think you are talking about running away, and I will restrain you. Do you understand?” I nodded. I knew then that I had to get out of this place. I wasn’t going to last here.
It was only my second week on work crew when Neil Westwood refused to turn his back to Brent and place his nose on the wall, which is what the command “face the wall” plainly meant. It was a Mexican standoff for a few moments. Stunningly it seemed like Brent was going to let Neil get his way. I had never seen an older boy in a pissing contest with a staff member before. The younger kids refused commands, but they were always quickly thumped into docility.
Neil was a big kid, a lot bigger than me – probably 230 pounds or so, and over six-feet tall, but dispelled any image of toughness with his glasses, disproportionately small arms, and frizzy hairdo. Neil was as obnoxious as he was an easy target, but I still can’t believe that no one reacted when Brent stood up in a flash of rage and chucked a full, unopened gallon of milk at Neil’s face from about five feet away, crumbling him to a pitiful puddle of tears, blood, and non-fat milk.
The work crew was depraved. When they didn’t have us facing the wall for hours at a time we were digging ditches with spoons, only to fill them back in again.
We made huge piles of heavy rocks taken from the field, the field that both surrounded and contained us, only to be told to move the massive mound to another location. They worked us in ways redolent of Stalin’s gulags.
There was an agonizing week of all-day sod laying – with bits of mud and grass sticking to the inside of my wool dress – in preparation for some ceremony the work crew boys weren’t privy to. The Scarecrow Festival was even worse. We worked for weeks from eight in the morning till eight at night in preparation and to take down that contrived fall carnival/ fundraiser. Boys wished for death. There was also a dry-cleaning service that they operated somewhere in town, which was supposedly much better than any job on campus – even kitchen duty.
Getting off from work crew meant school during the day, and considerably less work. Some sadist there created a t-shirt caste system that involved wearing either a blue t-shirt or green t-shirt. “Blue shirts” could talk, receive letters (which were opened and read first), talk to their parents, and possibly go off campus.
“Green shirts” were allowed into school, but that was about it. No speaking, sitting, or anything but working or reading LDS literature. A “green shirt” was forced to read the Book of Mormon, in particular the first 22 chapters. We were interviewed by one of the four full-time Mormon missionaries that worked there and had to paraphrase all of “First Nephi” before receiving a blue t-shirt. What good derives from reading the Book of Mormon under duress is anyone’s guess, but I did it. I had to.
I had to go to church and seminary too.
It turns out that any form of decadence – smoking a little grass, telling your math teacher to sit on it, being gay or bi-curious, sexually assaulting a family member or young girl – is curable by a little hard work, tough love, and Mormon doctrine. Boys with “sexual issues” are housed together in what could only be some cruel showing of satire.
They were constantly being caught jerking each other off onto each other, or, more tragically, assaulting younger boys. Whatever it was, they would be shoved into blankets and thrown on work crew. On Tuesday night they would meet with all the boys with sexual issues and provide remedies like IcyHot on the penis to stifle homosexual urges.
I was kept there until they couldn’t keep me any longer, and on my 18th birthday I walked out the front doors into a cold October morning with nowhere to go and nothing but my freedom. If I didn’t experience it myself I would not believe a place like this exists. A Mormon gulag.
How do they get away with all of the abuse? The forced religion, the stifling of freedom of speech? Was it legal to prevent us from reporting abuse to authorities, or to restrain us with ropes, wool blankets, and duct tape? Is it legal to force young boys to talk about masturbation with Mormon clergy and missionaries? How does all of this go unnoticed? We were young and naive and didn’t know that most of what they did to us was illegal. Buttars was famous for telling us that we had only three rights: food, safety, and shelter. They failed to even live up to those standards.
Besides being callow, we hardly had the chance to report any abuse. They instruct parents to ignore any claims of abuse from their children. They call any complaints from children a manipulation tool – “fear factor” – and instruct parents to be wary of the “tactic” they say they encounter most.
There were also no phones to call the police. No nurses or medical examiners to talk to. No government authorities to check in on us. Incongruously, this Orwellian facility desperately needs government oversight.
Sen. Buttars said it all when he told a reporter, “What sets us apart is that we’re the only residential treatment facility that doesn’t seek or accept government funding. If we did, they’d control us.”
By Dave Zirin
x-posted from Edge of Sports with permission.
As supporters of Gay Marriage have discovered, it’s never easy to be on the Mormon Church’s enemies list. The Church of Latter-Day Saints backed the anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 in California with out-of-state funds, and gave the right a heartbreaking victory this past election cycle. But the Mormon Church has been challenged in the past. Just ask Bob Beamon.
If you know Beamon’s name it’s almost certainly because he won the long jump gold medal in legendary fashion at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Beamon leapt 29 feet, 2.5 inches, a record that held for twenty-three years. Great Britain’s Lynn Davies told Beamon afterwards, “You have destroyed this event.” This is because Beamon was not only the first long jumper to break 29 feet, he was the first to break 28.
But you may not know that Beamon almost never made it to Mexico City. Along with eight other teammates, Beamon had his track and field scholarship revoked from the University of Texas at El Paso, the previous year. They had refused to compete against Brigham Young University. Beamon and his teammates were protesting the racist practices of the Mormon Church, and their coach at UTEP, Wayne Vanderburge, made them pay the ultimate price.
They weren’t alone. As tennis great Arthur Ashe wrote in his book, Hard Road to Glory, “In October 1969, fourteen black [football] players at the University of Wyoming publicly criticized the Mormon Church and appealed to their coach, Lloyd Eaton, to support their right not to play against Brigham Young University. . . . The Mormon religion at the time taught that blacks could not attain to the priesthood, and that they were tainted by the curse of Ham, a biblical figure. Eaton, however, summarily dropped all fourteen players from the squad.”
The players, though, didn’t take their expulsion lying down. They called themselves the Black 14 and sued for damages with the support of the NAACP. In an October 25th game against San Jose State, the entire San Jose team wore black armbands to support the 14.
One aftershock of this episode was in November 1969, when Stanford University President Kenneth Pitzer suspended athletic relations with BYU, announcing that Stanford would honor what he called an athlete’s “Right of Conscience.” The “Right of Conscience” allowed athletes to boycott an event which he or she deemed “personally repugnant.” As the Associated Press wrote, “Waves of black protest roll toward BYU, assaulting Mormon belief and leaving BYU officials and students, perplexed, hurt, and maybe a little angry.”
On June 6th, 1978, as teams were refusing road trips to Utah with greater frequency, and the IRS started to make noises about revoking the church’s holy tax-free status, a new revelation came …
Whether a cynical ploy to avoid the taxman or a coincidence touched by God, the results were the same: Black people were now human in the eyes of the Church. African Americans were no longer, as Brigham Young himself once put it, “uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable, and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.” The IRS was assuaged, the athletic contests continued, and the church entered a period of remarkable growth.
Similar pressure must be brought to bear on the Mormon Church today for its financing of Proposition 8 in California. One nonprofit crunched the numbers and found that $17.67 million of the $22 million used to pass the anti-gay marriage legislation was funneled through 59,000 Mormon families since August. It was done with the institutional backing of the church, though many pro-gay Mormons have spoken out defiantly against the church’s political intervention.
The question now is whether this latest tale of social conflict and the Church of Latter-Day Saints will also spill onto the athletic field. Men’s athletics have been one of the last proud hamlets of homophobia in our society (although the attitudes of male athletes is more progressive than you might think). But women’s sports has been historically more open around issues of sexuality.
Will any women collegians raise the specter of Proposition 8 if they have to travel to the schools of Utah? Will we see the ghosts of Black 14 emerge from the past? If any athletes choose to act, the ramifications could be “Beamonesque.”
x-posted from Stop The Mormons
Admittedly, I got busy with the holidays and fell behind in my reading at some of my favorite websites. I figured I could bookmark, spend a couple days getting reacquainted with the wife and kids, and then catch up later.
Later was apparently too late:
No longer available? Now that’s disappointing.
What happened?
After the success of the Evangelical-Mormon lovefest otherwise known as Prop 8, I was really looking forward to reading what Glenn Beck might write over at James Dobson’s place. Would Glenn use the opportunity to ask Dr. Dobson about that time back in 2004 when Dobson’s wife, Shirley, excluded Mormons from the National Day of Prayer? And would Glenn suggest that maybe, in the afterglow of Prop 8, now was a good time for Dr. Dobson to offer an apology to Mormons for not letting them use the word “Christian” to describe themselves? And would it be an apology as heartfelt as the one that Beck delivered to Dobson on-air in 2007? And, considering how successful the Mormons were at helping the Evangelicals keep the word “marriage” all to themselves out in California, would Dr. Dobson perhaps finally be moved to graciously begin sharing the “C” word with the Mormons? I mean, Beck and Dobson are both good “Christians” right?
The potential was there for an absolutely riveting read.
So, what happened?
Well, it turns out that apparently Dr. Dobson has agreed that the “C” word does apply to Mormons. The problem now is that it’s that other “C” word. See if you can spot it while I try to sort out the story behind this gripping tale of a dead link.
December 19: A story goes up on Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink website promoting Mormon TV host Glenn Beck’s latest book, “The Christmas Sweater.”
Later that same day, a Christian blogger pens a brief diary under the title Focus on the Family Embraces Mormonism.
December 21: Another Christian blogger weighs in, this time in a post titled Focus on the Family Implicitly Affirms Mormonism that includes this advice:
I strongly discourage you from giving money to any religious organization that is so committed to a social agenda that they are willing to ignore the vast difference between biblical Christianity and the cult of Mormonism … When Christians yoke up with unbelievers in order to promote a common social agenda, we display a gross lack of discernment, feed religious pluralism, and end up doing all kinds of wierd [sic] and sinful things in hopes of restoring the Andy Griffith moralism of the 1950s …
December 22: A press release goes out over the ChristianNewsWire announcing that Focus on the Family Promotes Mormon Glenn Beck at CitizenLink and that:
Clearly, Mormonism is a cult. The CitizenLink story does not mention Beck’s Mormon faith, however, the story makes it look as if Beck is a Christian who believes in the essential doctrines of the faith … to promote a Mormon as a Christian is not helpful to the cause of Jesus Christ. For Christians to influence society, Christians should be promoting the central issues of the faith properly without opening the door to false religions.
Later that same day, John Schroeder, the Christian half of the Evangelical-Mormon blogging duo over at Article VI responds with Embarrassed By My Brethren … and writes:
This move [promoting Glenn Beck] by the Dobson organization should be applauded loudly and long. Nobody can swing more evangelical votes than James Dobson – NOBODY. … Of course, if we are lucky, this blog will be the only outlet in the world to pay attention to this press release [slamming Dobson’s promotion of Beck on the CitizenLink site].
December 24: No such luck. And our unlucky Article VI blogger, noticing that the Glenn Beck article has been pulled off the CitizenLink website, posts this woeful update: ARRGH!:
… the Dobson organization has caved …
The absolute worst part is that in California we have just witnessed what is possible if Mormons and Evangelicals and Catholics unite politically – so how does the leading Evangelical public figure (although Dobson is rapidly being supplanted in that role by Pastor Warren) respond? By caving to the slighest pressure from a few grossly over-zealous types. Which does what? It weakens an already very weak and formative bridge between.
Shame on the Dobson organization.
Wow.
And now I’m wondering why they even need two bloggers over at Article VI? John Schroeder’s obviously got serious talent when it comes to generating a passionate debate with himself:
Nobody can swing more evangelical votes than James Dobson!Dobson is yesterday’s news, all hail Rick Warren!The Dobson organization should be applauded loudly and long!Shame on the Dobson organization!
Ouch.
And now that Dobson has scrubbed his site of Beck’s Mormon taint, it’ll be interesting to watch and see if Lowell Brown (the Mormon half of Article VI) has anything more to say on the subject. What say you, Lowell? For all your hard work on Prop 8, what gift were Mormons like yourself hoping to receive from Evangelicals who consider yours a false religion and your church a cult?
Whatever it was, you need to wake up and go check your Christmas stocking: Santa Dobson has done delivered your lump of coal.
It’s Tinfoil Hat Time.
As we all know by now, Mike Connell has been killed in a solo plane crash in Ohio.
But what we may not all know is that on September 22, 2008, Connell’s firm, Connell Donatelli Inc., was paid $200,000 for their work for the Yes on 8 campaign.
In any case, before his untimely death, Connell had been a key witness in the King-Lincoln v. Blackwell lawsuit regarding fraud in the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio.
As Yogi Berra once described it … it’s like déjà vu, all over again: On April 26, 2003, Wesley Vance, devout Mormon and senior exec at Diebold (the vote-counting company), was killed in a single-engine plane crash in Ohio (something to keep in mind when viewing the last vid posted here).
More about Mike Connell from Larisa Alexandrovna: One of my sources died in a plane crash last night …
H/T: TrueVote.US
Curiouser and curiouser:
1) Cliff Arnebeck, the Ohio attorney litigating the lawsuit regarding alleged manipulation of the 2004 presidential election in Ohio has offered to cooperate in an investigation into California’s Proposition 8.
2) In its post-election poll, the PPIC replaced the response from the folks they polled regarding Prop 8 with the previously reported vote breakdown (52% Yes, 48% No), rather than reporting the actual breakdown from their own sample.
3) In 2004, Bart Marcois, chair of the RNC Advisory Council on LDS Outreach, helped make sure that 50% of observers at Ohio’s election places were made up of his Mormon volunteers.
4) Compare these two URLs (losing and winning):
A) On the basis of answers from 2,168 exit poll respondents, CNN reports Prop 8 losing 52% – 48%
B) Later in the evening, on the basis of 2,240 exit poll respondents, CNN reports Prop 8 winning 52% – 48%
C) Between the exit poll that showed Prop 8 losing and the exit poll that showed Prop 8 winning, CNN polled 72 voters … not enough to account for the flip, even if every single voter they polled answered that they’d voted yes.
I’ve long wondered why so many players from the Ohio 2004 contest were involved in the Prop 8 campaign. With Mike Connell’s passing, it’s time to stop wondering and start sorting out this mess.
My sincere condolences to Michael Connell’s family.
And to the Felt family.
Mark Felt – better-known as “Deep Throat” (and less well-known as patriarch of a devout Mormon family) – has passed on at 95.
We could all benefit from a few more Mormons like Mark right about now.
Absent that, how about a few more no-holds-barred reports like this one?
OK, so it wasn’t so much “no-holds-barred” as it was “more-questions-than-answers.”
Frankly, that’s also where I happen to be right about now.
And here’s why:
Nevermind. Spoonamore’s got the answers:
Four questions.
Four answers.
Q&A #1 (4:18 minutes):
A) Laughable? What’s “laughable” is Gary’s “6,000 years” assertion re some global six-millennia-strong definition of marriage.
B) Consequences? Gary: maybe some of us are thinking about the consequences for first- and second-graders with LGBT parents, rather than simply ignoring them.
C) Frame it however you’d like, Gary, but if I allow my kids to attend the wedding of a teacher – who they adore – what business is that of yours? Your framing of what you call “a mistake” strikes me as yet another example of folks like you making it your business to infringe on the rights of parents like me.
Roll tape #1:
Q&A #2 (3:12 minutes):
A) “Institutional” vs. “member” funds. Not much to say about this exchange. That said, it did leave me wondering how to square Gary’s line re individual Mormon member financing of Prop 8 with his later comments (see Q&A #4) re the vertical structure of the LDS church?
Roll tape #2:
Q&A #3 (3:50 minutes):
A) Yes, Gary, me and you both would like to see some post-Prop 8 “Name ID” polling on that.
B) The mid-October 2008 tracking poll that Gary cites is very interesting. Seven percent ??? 7% ??? …
Thanks, Gary, for confirming that those of us on the No side didn’t get the job done when it came time for drawing attention to who – specifically – was funding Prop 8.
C) Gary’s planning to do some follow-up polling two years from now? Blue’s Clues, folks. 2010. Get ready. Gary & Co. already are.
Roll tape #3:
Q&A #4 (3:35 minutes):
A) What is it – exactly – that makes Mormons different from other faiths? Gary knows. Listen and learn. It’s got a lot to do with vertical vs. horizontal and geographic vs. non-geographic organizational structures.
B) Force? Mormons don’t use “force”? Whatever.
We’re a nation of laws, Gary. In this country, our secular laws = all the force needed to turn your agenda into my reality. And I’ll respect that “force” throughout my campaign to change the laws that you’ve helped to implement, because, whether you like it or not (and even if you recognize it or not) we’re all Americans.
So, finally, roll tape #4:
Granted, none of this makes much sense (in terms of a way forward) unless you’re willing to listen to the audio and walk in Gary’s Mormon Weltanschauung for just a few minutes.
For those who are willing to listen and learn, I know you’ll be emboldened … because once you’ve caught wind of Gary’s own polling, you’ll come to understand that our Mormon opponents are not nearly as daunting as you might have supposed.
All their admitted competence aside, what they’ve figured out is ultimately not all that complicated. Our opponents are who they are. They’re vertically integrated … and Gary’s February polling is what it is. And as long as we remain true to the task at hand, we will move on and render Dr. Lawrence’s early 2008 findings inoperative.
Their best days are behind them. Their only hope has always been those folks in the muddled middle who, until lately, were conveniently unaware that both Mike Huckabee and Rick Cizik were about to get their respective asses kicked by folks on both sides of this issue (by Jon Stewart and the NAE, respectively).
Going forward, Gary will continue to read his tea leaves, but we’re gonna drink his Mormon milkshake.
Because even if many of us can’t see it yet, there is a 50-state strategy emerging in the Prop 8 aftermath: because all of a sudden there’s an understanding that any successful strategy relies on all of us taking the fight to whoever dares get in our way locally. Wherever we are, whatever the locale, we all understand: coordination is no substitute for courage.
The Prop 8 campaign looks set to be remembered as the exception that finally got us fired up enough to prove the rule that we’re all Americans.
Enjoy your victory, Gary.
And good luck with your future polling efforts.
I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
With apologies to Rick Jacobs: my title’s adapted from his totally worthy Why we’re mad at the Mormon church.
I just finished reading this from the LDS “Newsroom” …
Which reminded me that I’d previously written Maurine Proctor (editor of an influential Mormon mag) back in August about some of the stuff that Meridian (her mag) was putting out there in support of Prop 8 … and that she’d replied with an article by Roger Severino, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The same Becket (of recent No Mob Veto fame) and Ballard (of Mormon Apostolic fame) who were BFF long before they recently started whining about our post-election actions.
Which led me to mutter to myself: enough with the Kabuki, Ballard.
As if Stop The Mormons hadn’t long since put together the definitive timeline re your shenanigans.
To whit:
Graphic and timeline courtesy of Stop The Mormons
March 1997: Leaked memo provides insight into the late LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley’s strategy for opposing same-sex marriage. It describes a meeting in which Hinckley gives the go ahead, but urged caution. According to the memo, “he (President Hinckley) also said the (LDS) Church should be in a coalition and not out front by itself.” Also names Dick Wirthlin, who is related to Massachusetts couple in Prop 8 ads, as strategist.
October 1998: Of the $600,000 used to try to ban gay marriage in Alaska, $500,000 came from one big lump sum donation from the Mormon Church. It seems that they learned that they should have their members give the money in the future to avoid criticism.
September 2007: Mitt Romney, in an interview with Christianity Today, describes an earlier 2007 Salt Lake City meeting between Jerry Falwell and Gordon B. Hinckley to discuss their cooperation on a campaign against same-sex marriage in California.
February 2008: Mormon-supported National Organization for Marriage (NOM) makes their first reported payment to Bader & Associates, the signature-gathering firm hired to help get Prop 8 on the ballot. Due to its sizeable early financial support of ProtectMarriage, NOM is chiefly responsible for the qualification of Proposition 8. Matthew Holland, son of LDS Apostle and former BYU president Jeffrey R. Holland, is on the board of directors. There are many Mormon donors to NOM that have not been identified because the focus has been on the ProtectMarriage committee.
May/June: The New York Times reports about this time in retrospect: “First approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco a few weeks after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, the Mormons were the last major religious group to join the campaign, and the final spice in an unusual stew that included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties.”
June 29: A highly unusual letter from Mormon leadership was read from the pulpits in California (although it was leaked and posted on websites several days prior). It stated in part: “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.” To most Mormons, a call such as this from their Prophet is the same as being called of God.
July 1: A letter later reports some of Mormon efforts during the coming month. “Congregations of LDS all having been taught the doctrine in July so that they may see the importance of fundraising and grassroots participation. Some Stakes have called all Stake Council and wives as well as several folks who may be able to contribute not on the Council. The Stake President, in that Cottage Meeting, has asked for their support. A great part of a fund raising effort, accomplished in one night.”
July 7: Mormon Gary Lawrence, the California “LDS Grassroots Director” for Prop 8 and father of a gay son, writes in the online LDS oriented Meridian Magazine and compares opponents of Proposition 8 to those who sided with Lucifer against Jesus in a pre-mortal battle that is part of Mormon doctrine. His son later resigns from the church.
July 27: Top Mormon leaders participate in a meeting with “eight Area Directors in Northern California. These are amazingly powerful people. The Area folks represent the grassroots effort for the passage of the Proposition and their responsibility overlays each Coordinating Council. This was a great and powerful meeting. I assure you that the LDS folks who work closely with or who are on the Board directly of the coalition are very impressive and politically experienced folks.” (ref)
July 28: Letter sent out to Mormon Stake (regional) Presidents to explain the structure they would be operating under along with other information that arose out of the previous day leadership meeting. “The Brethren have felt that the best way to organize and pass the Proposition is to have an Ecclesiastical arm and a Grassroots arm to organization.” (See the letter here)
July 30: Member of LDS church states on blog, “I simply can’t bear another Sunday of political announcements, talks, and constant references to the proposition in Relief Society lessons.”
July 31: A few Mormon church members around the Internet have been wondering how “worthy” they would be if they don’t fall into line.
August 1: “All Regional Directors have been called and contacted by Area Directors for training.” (ref)
August 3: “Training of Regional Directors commences by the Area Directors.” (ref)
August 6: whatisprop8.com is registered and a site is launched by Mormon Kenny McNett where he teaches young Mormons how to spam blogs. He later is featured in videos produced by the Mormon church and the church is later accused of not reporting contributions such as these production and video distribution efforts.
August 7: Local Mormon leaders continue soliciting donations. A Mormon blogger on nine-moons.com reports that the previous night he had a call from his Stake President, a high level regional Mormon leader over multiple local congregations. “We knew it was going to be about California’s Proposition 8 – that’s all the stake’s been talking about for the past month.” The leader asked “about making a contribution- a rather sizable contribution. He already had a figure in mind.” The blogger made the donation the next morning, and an hour later their realtor called to say that they got the dream house they had made an offer on. The blogger called this “an amazing testimony of obedience” in his post.
August 8: Sophia comments on nine-moons.com (see Aug 7): “My father in law is a bishop in Southern CA. For those of you who want to know how much a family is expected to give to Prop 8 in his stake, it’s $1000. A rich ward is expected to be able to come up with about $150,000 for Prop 8.”
August 8: Tim says on nine-moons: “I think the majority are in line with the prophets and apostles on this one. Those who hold temple recommends have acknowledged that they support the general and local authorities of the church. Like me, they will be walking neighborhoods asking others what they think and sharing information.”
August 9: An article written by Glen Greener, a Mormon with a controversial past (“citygate”) in Salt Lake City government, and posted to the Mormon oriented Meridian Magazine website, claimed nine consequences if proposition 8 fails. The questionable claims in the writing are soon edited and distributed by Mormons in the campaign.
August 10: “Zip Code Supervisors are in place and are to be trained by Regional Directors.” (ref)
August 16: If there is one thing that Mormons are known for, it’s knocking on doors. “The First of three Saturday precinct walks are to be held under the direction of the Regional Directors.” (ref) Jeff Flint, a strategist with Protect Marriage, spoke about this period after the campaign, estimating that Mormons made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts.
August 17: A somewhat mysterious and hard to decipher group called the Eagle Foundation joins the Prop 8 forces. It apparently is the evolution of the Eagle PAC which was formed to get Mormons financially involved in politics. One of the main players in Eagle, Bart Marcois, founded and chaired the RNC Advisory Council on LDS Outreach, and was responsible for massive volunteer surge team deployments nationwide in the 2004 and 2006 campaign cycles. He apparently used his talent for grass-root Mormon organizing for the Prop 8 campaign. The Prop 8 campaign reportedly paid Eagle $130,000 in October.
August 19: The controversial authors name is stripped from “nine consequences” and an anonymous document, called “Six Consequences if Prop. 8 Fails” begins circulating the internet, mostly on Mormon-related blogs. The document was filled with dishonest claims that are later rebutted for the few who would listen. Some blogs reference that it was provided by Mormon Gary Lawrence, the California “LDS Grassroots Director” for Prop 8 (see July 7). “Six Consequences” also starts to become widely available within Mormon congregations and as handouts during canvassing.
August 23: The second Saturday of walking and canvassing occurs in precincts. The ‘six consequences’ are mentioned in the news reports that followed – the LDS canvassers were carrying copies of the questionable “Six Consequences” with them door-to-door.
August 27: MormonsFor8.com is registered by a private individual and launches as a clearinghouse for information about tracking the exploding Mormon contributions for Prop 8.
September 1: Sometime in September, Sonja Eddings Brown, a Mormon, is hired by ProtectMarriage and becomes the chief spokesperson for the campaign. According to a bio provided on her husbands website, “Sonja has served as a news media specialist for the Church in Southern California, but is now on leave from that assignment.” On a side note, a student who came to know her some time ago found her to be rather unpleasant.
September 4: Fundraising calls by top church officials to high profile Mormons were already underway, according to the former president of Clorox in a Wall Street Journal story. He was invited to participate in a conference call of 40 to 60 potential donors, led by a high church official, known as a member of the Quorum of Seventy, where he was asked to make a $25,000 donation. The donation was recorded on September 4. The call likely occurred between this date and August 21, when his unsolicited donation of $3,000 was recorded.
September 7: Continued reports of much Prop 8 activity in Mormon churches. A blog reports that members were getting up to speak about it in testimony meeting, which is the type of church service held the first Sunday of the month. Someone comments on the blog, “It is mentioned in every meeting, donation sheets are passed around in RS and there are pleas for donations and volunteers in the announcements as well as impromptu testimonies during classes. It is EVERYWHERE!!!!”
September 11: Mormon leadership issues letter to be read in all congregations in the U.S. stating the church “affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues.”
September 11: Mormon Bishop, at the direction of higher authorities, visits home of a church member who set up a website opposing the church position on Prop 8, and asks for resignation before threatening excommunication.
September 15: MormonsFor8.com reports: “As of 5:00 PM PST, Sept 15, 35% of all donors to protectmarriage.com are identified as Mormons, and their total contributions make up 29% of the total money donated. The percentages are growing everyday. Please help out by checking the list to see if you can identify any other Mormon donors.”
September 20: The Wall Street Journal reports in an article: “The Mormon Church encouraged its members to send their donations to a separate post-office box set up by a church member, said Messrs. Schubert and L. Whitney Clayton, a senior Mormon Church official involved in the campaign. Mr. Clayton said the church didn’t keep track of how much individual Mormons donated, just the cumulative total. He said members bundled the donations and forwarded them to the campaign.”
September 20: Wall Street Journal also reported, “The tally of Mormon contributions was provided by Frank Schubert, campaign manager for ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, the initiative’s primary backer. A finance-tracking group corroborated Mormon fund-raising dominance, saying it could exceed 40%.”
September 22: Plans for “One million signs will be put up in yards around the state at 7:00am” (ref) did not come through. Apparently the Yes on 8 folks didn’t buy American. An email from Gina Downey, the producer of a cult hit Mormon film GODS ARMY said: “The YES on Prop 8 yard signs have been delayed in route from China.”
September 23: LDS Church Prop 8 campaign strategy “update” memo surfaces at WikiLeaks.
September 28: MormonsFor8.com reports that Mormon donations make up the largest group of donors to Prop 8 at 40.4% of contributions.
September 29: ProtectMarriage runs first television ad with Mormon professor from Pepperdine University making false claims that teaching gay marriage in schools was a certainty, causing problems for the school in the process. The campaign later continues using the Pepperdine name despite objections from the school.
September 30: According to data filed with the secretary of state’s office, ProtectMarriage.com, the main group backing Prop 8, had raised about $25.4 million. No on 8, Equality for All – the main group opposing the measure – had raised almost $15.8 million. Yes on 8 was flush with a cash balance of about $12.8 million, due by large measure to Mormon contributions, while No on 8 had approximately $1.8 million.
October 1: Mormon church registers the domain preservingmarriage.org and launches a site with material to support the campaign. Questions are later raised questioning if the church reported non-monetary contributions such as this to the State of California, leading to an official investigation.
October 6: Mormon blogs about “zealousness” about Prop 8 within Mormon congregations and says “many bishops and other Mormons have circulated the document ‘Six Consequences if Proposition 8 fails'” and expresses distress about the honesty of the claims.
October 7: “Ryan” who lives in Utah posts comment to blog and states he was in a propaganda video shot by the Mormon church with LDS leader Elder Bednar. He also says, “I live in Utah (though I’m from California) and the church has asked my stake to have 250 member ready to man a call center on the subject.”
October 8: Top Mormon leaders made a televised satellite broadcast appeal to church members (view the transcript) to step up their already considerable efforts. They asked for 30 members from each California congregation to donate four hours per week to the campaign. They also called on young married couples and single Mormons to use the Internet, text messaging, blogging and other forms of computer technology to help pass the initiative, saying the church has created a new Web site with materials they can download and post on their own social networking sites.
October 8: The Associated Press reported that “Mormons Recruit Out-of-State for Gay Marriage Ban. Mormons living outside California have been asked to volunteer for a telephone campaign to help pass a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in the state.”
October 8: No on 8 makes plea for $10 million in donations saying “our lead is gone” in an attempt to recover ground due in no small part to massive giving by Mormons.
October 12: Mormons distributing Yes on 8 signs from at least one church parking lot to cars leaving Sunday church services.
October 12: Mormon Jyl Holiday makes comment on blog that in her congregation “they have us knocking doors to warn people about it. Calling like telemarketers, and EVERY talk is about Prop 8, every RS, priesthood class is based around the proposition, it is starting to deterr members from even going to church. I TOTALLY see why the general presidency is asking for us to fight here in CA, but some of the members feel that it is just too much of shoving down the throught for them to handle.”
October 13: Sacramento Bee reports “[Mormon] Church members have donated about 40 percent of the $22.8 million raised to pass the initiative since July, according to Frank Schubert, campaign manager for ProtectMarriage.com, the primary backer of the “yes” campaign.” Some have said that this article, and the Mormon couple interviewed, was a “wake up call” to the No on 8 campaign about the depth of individual Mormon participation.
October 13: Idaho television reports about organizing by the Mormon church in their area to operate phone banks to reach California voters.
October 14: ProtectMarriage.com had raised just over $26 million, according to new data filed with the secretary of state’s office.
October 17: ProtectMarriage started running new ads starring a Mormon power couple, the Wirthlins, with a famous name and high ranking relatives in the Mormon church (which is not discovered by the public until later, including that one was a church strategist in their battle against same sex marriage). Their story, one of the most powerful scare tactics used in the Prop 8 campaign, is later reported on with their credibility called into question by some neighbors who suspect they went looking for this battle.
October 21: Lowell Brown, husband of the “yes” side’s public spokesperson Sonja Eddings Brown, and himself an “Area Director” for the campaign, says on his blog that MormonsFor8.com numbers for Mormon contributions are LOW. “I see lots of individuals on the list whom I know to be members of the Church, but who haven’t been identified yet.”
October 22: Around this time, ProtectMarriage sends blacklist threat letters to No on 8 supporters, which is defended by Mormon Sonja Eddings Brown, spokesperson for Protect Marriage, and is later talked about on Dr. Phil.
October 22: A Mormon blogger reports, “the Church has added even more resources to its new PreservingMarriage.org website, which has a sleek resign that’s a little less conspicuously LDS, though still with the Church logo emblazoned at the bottom.”
October 24: Sonja Eddings Brown on Bill O’Reilly. Says, “Since the dawn of time and through many current studies, we know that children do best when they come from a low-conflict home with a mother and a father.” Such claims, uttered over and over during the campaign, outrage many authors of the studies because they do not apply to families with same sex parents.
October 24: Salt Lake Tribune: “LDS leaders have tapped every resource, including the church’s built-in phone trees, e-mail lists and members’ willingness to volunteer and donate money. Many California members consider it a directive from God and have pressured others to participate. Some leaders and members see it as a test of faith and loyalty. Those who disagree with the campaign say they feel unwelcome in wards that have divided along political lines. Some are avoiding services until after the election; others have reluctantly resigned. Even some who favor the ballot measure are troubled by their church’s zeal in the matter.”
October 24: Salt Lake Tribune states “literature written by Proposition 8 proponents is freely distributed in Mormon wards, giving the impression the church approves it, but much of it is “misinformation,” said Morris Thurston, an LDS attorney in Orange County. Thurston has circulated a point-by-point refutation to an anonymously authored document that has been widely disseminated by Mormons, “Six Consequences . . . If Proposition 8 Fails.” Thurston argues that most of its arguments are either untrue or misleading.”
October 24: A blogger states, “There seems to be a disconnect between that straightforward counsel being given by senior LDS leaders and the reality of what is happening on the ground in California.”
October 25: Media reporting that due to criticism, the LDS church pulls the plug on out of state phone banks.
October 28: Prop 8 announces $1 million matching donation by Mormon Alan Ashton, grandson of David O. McKay, President of the Mormon Church from 1951-1970.
November 2: Mormons end services with “keys of the priesthood” prayer for the passage of Prop 8, an extremely unusual act that causes some controversy in congregations.
FINAL TALLY: Mormons are believed to have contributed anywhere from 40% to 77% of the money for Prop 8.
Gary Lawrence, director of Proposition 8’s Mormon grassroots effort.
The Brethren [the top echelon of Mormon leadership] have felt that the best way to organize and pass the Proposition is to have an Ecclesiastical arm and a Grassroots arm to the organization … The senior folks who run the grassroots are LDS at the coalition and are headed by Glen Greener and Gary Lawrence.
Here’s Gary, back in August, firing up his Mormon brigades …
Why Mormons Are In This Fight:
If same-sex marriage advocates [win], the whole structure collapses – the family, the nation, and in time civilization itself. The time has come for those of us who believe that God, not man, created marriage … to take a stand and defend it.
(Gary’s astounding post-victory TV interview after the break)
But before we roll tape, here’s Gary again from the summer, this time calling on Mormons from across the land to join the battle …
While we … are mobilizing thousands to walk precincts, you can help us from the comfort of your homes … if you live in the Eastern or Central time zones, you can use free late-evening minutes on weekdays to call when Californians have just finished dinner.
Mission accomplished.
And how is Gary celebrating his victory?
By promoting his latest book, of course:
How Americans View Mormonism (Seven Steps To Improve Our Image)
Here’s the author taking his turn on KSL5 TV:
My favorite piece of advice from Dr. Lawrence to his fellow Mormons:
Perhaps the good doctor might consider that “being yourself” is a poor prescription for winning friends when “who you are” is someone willing to lead a campaign to strip your own child of his civil rights.
Meet Matthew Lawrence:
“Matthew is gay and is the son of Gary Lawrence, 67, who is the “State LDS Grassroots Director” for the state of California.”
This kind of heartless crap really upsets me, and I think maybe I need to speak directly to Gary at this point.
What this says about you as a father, Gary, is why it’s not surprising that you appear completely oblivious to the absolute incongruity of you, of all people, now touting your advice on the subject of improving Mormonism’s image.
How about taking a moment to reflect on your own comments in that KSL interview?
“Thirty-seven percent of all Americans do not know a Mormon, and 55 percent of all Americans do not know an active Mormon. In fact, those who know one Mormon have a worse opinion of us than those who don’t know any Mormons.“
Gary, if you were the only Mormon I knew, and if I thought for a second that all Mormons were just like you, you can bet I’d have a pretty low opinion of Mormonism.
Considering how your own research indicates that the more people get to know you, the less they like you, how can your writing another book about Mormons (not to mention your going on the teevee to promote it) be viewed as anything other than a counterintuitive and boneheaded move? Your own findings would seem to suggest that perhaps the first step to improving the Mormon image would be for Mormon PR flacks like yourself to simply go away.
Here’s my advice, Gary: When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Why not climb out of that hole, use some of the $212,463 that the Prop 8 campaign has so far paid you and Lawrence Research, and take the entire family on a nice vacation somewhere?
Your loved ones might appreciate that, and it would free up the airwaves for all those decent Mormons out there who we need to be hearing from … and who are the only hope Mormonism’s got for repairing the damage you’ve done.
This is all your doing, Gary.
Jan Shipps: A “Perfect Storm” of Bad PR for Mormon Church
Own it.
Because nice people understand that nice means keeping close to home until all this recent unpleasantness blows over.
That said, Sonja, do you honestly believe that you’re the only member of the LDS church who’s been involved professionally with the Yes on 8 campaign? What about this guy? Or this guy?
Whatever.
I’m gonna let Jon take it from here:
Today’s Pop Quiz: Sonja and Marvin both just happen to be members of which church?
