Anti-Gay LDS Activities     

Mormon Polygamy     

Rick Fernández

In a letter dated May 11, 1999 from the North America West Area Presidency, the LDS church issued a call to all California Mormons to donate their "means and time" to enact a "Defense of Marriage Act" that would ban recognition of valid same-sex marriages contracted outside California. Unlike the church's previous secret directive to members of March 10, 1996 calling on them to support an earlier attempt to ban same-sex marriage (while directing them to deny any church involvement), the church is making no pretense of hiding its involvement in this anti-gay campaign. Emboldened, perhaps, from its recent successful 1.1 million dollar contributions to similar anti-gay campaigns in Alaska and Hawaii, the church is openly showing itself the enemy of equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Under the pretext of defending marriage and the family, this latest attack begins, in typical fashion, by invoking morality, thus repeating the immoral lie that gays and lesbians have nothing better to do with their time than attack the marriages of heterosexuals.

What is even more ironic is that the church would depict itself as the guardian and defender of traditional marriage. If only the people of California knew how recent this alliance is. Nineteenth century Mormon leaders would be spinning in their graves to see the church on the vanguard of protecting traditional marriage. The early church newspaper, The Millennial Star, at vol. 15, p. 227, proclaimed that

"[t]he one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to a people."

"'Mormonism' is true in every leading doctrine, or it is as false as a system altogether . . . The 'Mormons' have either to spurn their religion and their God, and sink self-damned in the eyes of all civilization at the moment when most blest in the practice of their faith, or go calmly on to the same issue which they have always had-'Mormonism' in its entirety the revelation of God, or nothing at all . . . 'Mormonism' allowed in its entirety, or 'Mormonism' wiped out in blood."

The foregoing shows how improbable Mormon support for "traditional" marriage is. However, in the church's mad rush to jump on the "defend the family" bandwagon, practical inconsistencies and historical facts matter little. What is popular is gay-bashing, and in this cause no facts will deter the church. This is why we urge our readers to stop and carefully consider the following issues before blindly accepting the church's statements as gospel truth.

1. If gays are allowed to marry, how are straight marriages harmed? Is heterosexuality so fragile and tenuous that the moment gay marriage is recognized, millions of heterosexuals will throw off the pretense and rush off to marry their own gender? Can anyone's marriage be harmed or diluted by someone else's marriage?



2. How can one claim to defend the family when a gay family that has two legally married spouses, perhaps even with children, are suddenly declared legal strangers and the children lose all the benefits that result from having legally married parents? How is that pro-family? Isn't it more pro-family to encourage gays to enter into stable relationships with all the obligations and duties attached to marriage?



3. Does civil marriage for gays have any negative implications for Mormon marriage when the church is free to continue denying recognition of or performing any marriages that it does not approve of? (The church's scare tactic of raising the specter of civil penalties if it does not perform same-sex marriage is beneath contempt-it knows full well that it is no more liable than are Catholics, who do not recognize divorce and refuse to perform second marriages for divorced heterosexuals. Apparently, someone has forgotten that we have a Bill of Rights protecting freedom of religion.)



4. Is it fair to deny couples who happen to be gay and who also pay taxes the same (not special) taxpayer funded rights that heterosexual couples enjoy? Why, e.g., should heterosexual partners be allowed to collect survivor's Social Security benefits based on their deceased partner's contributions, while homosexual partners are forced to watch their partners' life-long contributions return to the government? If we all pay our fair share of taxes, why should heterosexuals have special rights to benefits based solely on a sexual characteristic they did not choose and cannot change?

The truth is that it is these kinds of tactics, and not stable, committed and legally sanctioned gay marriages, that tear at the fabric of society. Affirmation urges the church to turn from these tactics and instead use its moral leadership to engender respect and acceptance of differences that complement and solidify marriage, rather than disseminating harmful lies and fomenting division and intolerance. Honesty from the church requires that it admit that same-sex marriage, while different, is no more a threat to traditional marriage than was polygamy. The real moral issue here is not whether gays are allowed to marry, but whether Mormons will bear false witness against their gay neighbors by supporting the deception that we threaten anyone's marriage. No amount of scripture quoting or pious speech can change the reality that falsehoods spoken in the name of God are still nothing more than lies.

We cannot sit back and remain silent while the church stirs up the forces of ignorance and anti-gay bigotry. We will continue to monitor the church's activity and report all possible violations of its tax exempt 501(c)(3) status to the appropriate taxing authorities. In the meantime, we urge all our readers to speak out against the lies being told about gays and lesbians and renew their commitment to equal rights for all, not special rights for some.

Text of letter read to members throughout California in May of 1999