The following video, entitled "Prop 8 - Did Mormons Go To Far?," is footage from the American News Project's reporting on the LDS Church involvement in lobbying and financial giving for the "Yes on 8" Campaign in California, which succeeded in promoting passage of Proposition 8 - a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
I've included the YouTube Video description, as well as two examples of my own extended commentary on the issues yto demonstrate the vehemency and passion of my opinions and to embolden sympathetic readers to fight against religious bigotry disguised as "morality."
As a gay man living in San Francisco (where the movement toward Marriage Equality first erupted in California), I admit to having pointedly biased views, which could be considered derogatory, denigrating and offensive to Mormons, but which should more significantly be viewed as sensitive to and in accordance with the GLBTQ ideology and cause of "Equality for All."
I've included the YouTube Video description, as well as two examples of my own extended commentary on the issues yto demonstrate the vehemency and passion of my opinions and to embolden sympathetic readers to fight against religious bigotry disguised as "morality."
As a gay man living in San Francisco (where the movement toward Marriage Equality first erupted in California), I admit to having pointedly biased views, which could be considered derogatory, denigrating and offensive to Mormons, but which should more significantly be viewed as sensitive to and in accordance with the GLBTQ ideology and cause of "Equality for All."
Activists claim that money from the Mormon Church was the deciding factor in passing Proposition 8 in California - banning gay marriage. The church claims to have only spent a few thousand dollars on the campaign, but ANP has uncovered evidence that may expose a caping hole in the claim. ...American News Project, "Prop 8 - Did Mormons Go Too Far?"
[Video] YouTube®, January 14, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/.
(February 20, 2009 at 4:21AM PST).
COMMENTARY #1 : MySpace™ | QHereKidSF | Matt(e)oDid the Mormon Church illegally invest direct funds or lobbying efforts in the fight to pass Proposition 8: the ban on gay marriage in California, which was signed into law by the Nov. 4, 2008 General Election ballot measure with only a 4% margin of the votes?
As the above video highlights, we have no way of calculating the actual total amount of monetary expenditures of the Mormon Church on all "Yes on 8" efforts unless the IRS intervenes, demands greater transparency, and determines what qualifies as criminal, "substantial" lobbying efforts?
My personal impressions are that the Mormon Church systematically attacked GLBTQ civil rights proponents with their arguments of "morality," and by actively & extensively mobilizing its parishioners to contribute millions of dollars and thousands of hours of political action toward the fight against the "Gay Agenda," stripping me and my brethren of our fundamental civil rights, and getting away with it by describing their mission as a religious cause of Christ.
It's a travesty, what has happened! Perhaps, when the gay community re-mobilizes to pose a better fight for their rights, we will see the Mormons react much in the same way; only this next time, they might be challenged by the status quo (or even indeed by the IRS) to disclose their complete expenditures of their anti-gay marriage campaign. Then we'll see who wins out!!
Enjoy the video! Let me know what you think of it with a comment or a mail message. It infuriates me! It's truly lamentable, what the Mormons have done! That's just my personal opinion, worthy of feature on my myspace page.Matt(e)o, "MySpace Profile | About Me | GAY MARRIAGE IN CA...".
[Profile] MySpace™ : A Place For Friends™, February 17, 2009.
http://www.myspace.com/qherekidsf/.
(February 20, 2009 @ 4:57AM PST).COMMENTARY #2 : Facebook™ | Matthew Blanchard | Message
Linsay, I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to view and reply to your email here on Facebook. I haven't been paying very much due attention to my Facebook account recently and have fallen behind on replying to emails when necessary and accepting new Friend Requests.
I did however want to reply to this email in particular after viewing the video attached to it, to thank you for sending it to me. I find the news report to be infuriating but matter of fact, and full of information that I did not in any way find surprising.
The Mormon church is a corrupt institution, and in my limited, biased perspective, they are the primary party responsible for the passage of Proposition 8: a ban on gay marriage in California. The truth is evident in the reporting: the Mormon Church expended exceedingly high amounts of the institution's own money to organize a campaign and lobby for its own parishioners to fight for "Yes on 8" by donating monies to the media campaigns designed by the Church's contractors, by phone banking and by flooding the streets of suburban California with "Yes on 8" propaganda posters.
The tens of millions of dollars that the Church and its parishioners contributed to the campaign far exceeded the total amount of donations to the cause by any other individual, institution, political action committee, faith-based organization or corporation nationwide. Like I said, I view the Mormon Church as the party principally responsible for the passage of the amendment to the California Constitution banning same-sex marriage.
We'll have to see as the fight continues in the courts and in politics how the Church reacts, and if the IRS is going to demand any increased transparency from the LDS. I hope that as the fight continues, the Church is called out for its excessive, illegal lobbying and financial contribution to the anti-gay political agenda. And I am a proponent of the cause to have the Church stripped of its tax-exempt status due to their criminal activity.
Beyond that, I'm at a loss for words. I'm interested though in hearing your thoughts on the matter. You didn't include any text response to the video in your email here on Facebook, so I cannot glean much of your perspective on the dueling anti-gay and pro-equality agendas. I'd like to hear what you have to say about the video and the entire culmination and continuation of events related to the fight for equal marriage rights in California and to the Mormon Church's involvement in the anti-gay marriage "morality" campaign.
I'm sure I'd consider your opinion to be astute, wise, socially aware, culturally competent and compassionate. I look forward to continuing a conversation with you on the matter. Please respond soon! Thanks! Hope all is well!
BTW, how's school? Are you excelling in your studies of journalism? What kind of extra-curricular or professional development activities are you involved in? Are you enjoying your education and your new academic lifestyle? I certainly hope so! Hope to hear all about it real soon. Peace Out! Cheers! Namaste!
Regards,
Matt(e)o | QHereKidSF
Matthew Blanchard
http://qherekidsf.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewblanchard/
http://www.pandora.com/people/mblanchard79/
http://www.wmalumni.com/member/mblanchard2002/
IF ONE ADVANCES CONFIDENTLY IN THE DIRECTION OF HIS DREAMS,
AND ENDEAVORS TO LIVE THE LIFE HE HAS IMAGINED, HE WILL MEET
WITH A SUCCESS UNEXPECTED IN COMMON HOURS.
— Henry David Thoreau
TO DO ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD WORTH DOING, WE MUST NOT
STAND BACK SHIVERING AND THINKING OF THE COLD AND DANGER,
BUT JUMP IN, AND SCRAMBLE THROUGH AS WELL AS WE CAN.
— Sydney Smith
THE GREAT ENEMY OF TRUTH IS VERY OFTEN NOT THE LIE,
DELIBERATE, CONTRIVED AND DISHONEST, BUT THE MYTH,
PERSISTENT, PERSUASIVE AND UNREALISTIC.— John F. KennedyM. Blanchard, "Message: Prop 8 - Did Mormons Go Too Far?"
[e-Correspondence] Facebook™, February 19, 2009.
http://www.facebook.com/.
(February 20, 2009 at 5:18AM PST).
In a final effort to sum up my commentary on the ANP Internet video broadcast embedded above, I will simply reiterate that my opinions & perspective are skewed by prejudice, bias & ignorance of the Mormon Church and its followers and by my own vigorous, audacious adherence to the "Gay Agenda."
The description of the YouTube™ video by ANP, however, speaks speculatively of the evidence of fault in the claim of the church that it only spent mere thousands of dollars (not tens of millions) campaigning against Marriage Equality.
If the ANP's evidence proves valid & true, then the argument, that the LDSs were the one institution and group of parishioners primarily responsible for the passage of a ban on gay marriage in California, holds true. I want wholeheartedly to agree with and believe in each and every key point of argument in this video broadcast, because I am angry, and I am hurt.
Because, I am disappointed that my fundamental rights were thrown in the shit can to fester & rot, where I lay a muck as vulgar excrement of injustice & inequality...where I am deemed decidedly...fundamentally, an immoral, lesser person for being gay (not having decided to be gay).
I am angry, and I am sad. This is the state of mind I've succumbed to after experiencing firsthand the equally potent prejudice and immorality of the Religious Right. But I live in San Francisco. What do I have to complain about?
Here, we are invigorated and empowered by community-wide appeals to continue the fight of "Equality for All!" Here, we have hope and faith in the fundamental maxim that declares, "justice will prevail!"
Here, we chronicle, commend and encourage each tiny tiptoe toward progress change, and toward a actualization of our damned, dear, determined ideals of equal civil rights...fundamental rights, not deferred or detracted, but emboldened and glorified.
Here, we continue the fight to "Defeat H8!" We're so fortunate to be here, in the great "Gay Mecca"...The Great Fog City: San Francisco! AMEN! Alleluia! Need I say more?
The description of the YouTube™ video by ANP, however, speaks speculatively of the evidence of fault in the claim of the church that it only spent mere thousands of dollars (not tens of millions) campaigning against Marriage Equality.
If the ANP's evidence proves valid & true, then the argument, that the LDSs were the one institution and group of parishioners primarily responsible for the passage of a ban on gay marriage in California, holds true. I want wholeheartedly to agree with and believe in each and every key point of argument in this video broadcast, because I am angry, and I am hurt.
Because, I am disappointed that my fundamental rights were thrown in the shit can to fester & rot, where I lay a muck as vulgar excrement of injustice & inequality...where I am deemed decidedly...fundamentally, an immoral, lesser person for being gay (not having decided to be gay).
I am angry, and I am sad. This is the state of mind I've succumbed to after experiencing firsthand the equally potent prejudice and immorality of the Religious Right. But I live in San Francisco. What do I have to complain about?
Here, we are invigorated and empowered by community-wide appeals to continue the fight of "Equality for All!" Here, we have hope and faith in the fundamental maxim that declares, "justice will prevail!"
Here, we chronicle, commend and encourage each tiny tiptoe toward progress change, and toward a actualization of our damned, dear, determined ideals of equal civil rights...fundamental rights, not deferred or detracted, but emboldened and glorified.
Here, we continue the fight to "Defeat H8!" We're so fortunate to be here, in the great "Gay Mecca"...The Great Fog City: San Francisco! AMEN! Alleluia! Need I say more?
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