I know that everyone is pretty well aware of my stance on the legalization of gay marriage and at one point or another has been victim to one of my rants on the importance on defeating Prop 8. Well,as most of you know, Prop 8 passed in California, along with anti-gay ballot measures in Florida, Arizona and Arkansas. Prop 8 was the hardest hitting of these measures due to the fact that, while it is difficult to watch states pass legislation denying the LGBT community equal treatment under the law, watching 18,000 newly wed couples stripped of their marriages just stings a little bit more.
At the beginning of this election season, Prop 8 seemed like a very small threat, it was lagging in the poled by nearly 20%. However, the Yes On 8 campaign received a huge infusion of cash that they were able to use to create a massive “Protect our children from the homosexual agenda” campaign. This infusion of cash came from many religious and conservative organizations but one in particular fronted the majority of the money. The Mormon Church is responsible for nearly 20 million dollars in OUT OF STATE contributions. This not only violates national law, it violates the Mormon Churches own Doctrine which states:
We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied.
Theelection is over, Proposition 8 was passed and the issuing of same sex marriage licenses has been suspended in California. The No On 8 campaign is continuing to fight; three suits have been filed against the proposition and there is a campaign under way to invalidate the proposition, as well as a campaign to educate the population of California and other affected states on gay issues. In the mean time, one possible option for recourse is to file a complaint with the IRS concerning the Mormon Church’s violation of the terms of their tax exempt status by attempting to influence legislation.
Below is a link to a website that explains how to file such a complaint, including a pre-completed form that just need to have your contact information added and can be snail mailed or e-mailed as a pdf attachment, directly to the IRS.
http://lds501c3.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/how-to-file-an-irs-501c3-complaint/
Also, this is a link to the Invalidate Prop 8 website.
http://www.invalidateprop8.org/
Any donation of $5 or more will be used to fund the legal battle that must ensue, and a postcard will be mailed to the president of the Mormon Church to inform him that a donation has been made in his name to fund organizations that seek to further the cause of human civil rights. Please take the time to visit these sites and if you have a few minutes to fill out a form or an extra five dollars to help a cause and send a message to the powers that hope to write bigotry into our legal documents, please do not hesitate.
Thanks so much.
Brad