excerpts:
In the end, Protect
Marriage estimates, as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised on
behalf of the measure was contributed by Mormons.
On Oct. 28, Mr.
Ashton, the grandson of the former Mormon president David O. McKay,
donated $1 million. Mr. Ashton, who made his fortune as co-founder of
the WordPerfect Corporation, said he was following his personal beliefs
and the direction of the church.
It is not our goal in
this campaign to attack the homosexual lifestyle or to convince gays
and lesbians that their behavior is wrong — the less we refer to
homosexuality, the better, one of the ward training documents
said. We are pro-marriage, not anti-gay.
Another of the
advertisements used video of an elementary school field trip to a
teacher’s same-sex wedding in San Francisco to reinforce the idea that
same-sex marriage would be taught to young children.
Indeed, many
Mormons don't want same sex marriage being taught to their
children. But many non-Mormons don't want Mormonism being
taught to their children either. After all, the church's history
is riddled with vigilante justice and blood
atonement. (1) And many are turned off
by the fact that the church's prophet used seer stones to find
buried treasure as well as to dictate the Book of Mormon while
examining the stones in the bottom of his hat, and that
his Kirtland temple "was the scene of visions, angelic
visitations, prophesying, speaking and singing in tongues". (2) The
point here is that Mormonism, like other religions and like
homosexuality, has its share of characteristic peculiarities. But
that doesn't mean it's ok to ban Mormonism.
Neither banning
Mormonism nor banning gay marriage is the right thing to do. Both
impinge upon someone else's freedom without a valid
reason. The key to freedom, for those who really care
about it, is to allow all to pursue that which they believe, not that
which someone else believes. If Mormons were being forced to have
gay marriages, that would be different. Then I would - gladly
- take up arms with them. But they are not being forced to
do any such thing. Gays only seek to change their own
marriages, not those of Mormons or anyone else.
I am neither
Mormon nor gay. Yet I feel having gays and Mormons around
poses not one iota of threat to my
children. They both, like most everyone else, just
bring something different. Both will always be welcome in my
house.