Gay marriage outlawed anew in California. Are Mormons to blame?

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:47:28 +0100

Why do you get ten wives and I can't even have one? Protest outside a Mormon temple on Santa Monica Blvd, LA. Posted on Flickr by Evan Jacobs 6 November 08.

Since same-sex marriage was banned in California last Tuesday, gay activists have rallied against the vote with daily protests, blaming the Mormon Church for swaying the electorate with a cash-crammed campaign. One blogger is calling for a "boycott of the State of Utah" and all business owners who donated to the cause.

On the same day that the first ever black American was elected to the White House, gay couples were banned from getting married in California. Since May this year, gay Californian couples had been enjoying the same rights as heterosexual couples, but in a poll on Tuesday, just over half of the state (52.5%) voted to take them away. Coming from the country's most liberal state, which is considered a groundbreaker on the matter, the decision came as a shock. So shocking in fact, that even Republican state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke out against it on Sunday, encouraging gay rights activists "not to give up". MSNBC's comic presenter Keith Olbermann also condemned the decision, calling it "horrible". On Monday, 43 Democrat legislators went even further by signing a petition urging the Supreme Court to void Prop 8.

Meanwhile, gay rights activists have been protesting daily from Sacramento to San Diego, targeting in particular the Mormon Church (LDS), which poured over $15m into the ProtectMarriage campaign according to the Mormons for Proposition 8 website, which lists donors and amounts given.

Protestors chant "shame on you" outside a Mormon Temple in Westwood, Los Angeles. Posted by "Jaromellz" 8 Nov. 08.

Demonstrators marched to and from a Mormon temple in Silverlake, LA on Saturday. Posted by "wojo4hitz" 10 Nov. 08.

"Polygamous relationships tend to be very successful"

Julien — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:07:58 +0200

Image taken from Mormon Polygamy: A History

Following a call from a 16-year-old girl claiming she was sexually abused and assaulted by her 50-year-old husband, a fundamentalist Mormon compound where men have several wives has been raided and 419 children taken into temporary custody by Texan authorities.

The raid took place last Thursday after a teenager called social services on March 19, saying she was forced to marry at 15 and was beaten and choked by her husband while he forced her to have sex with him. The ranch is the base of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day (FDLS), an off-shoot of the mainstream Latter-day Saints (LDS) who denounced polygamy over 100 years ago.

Mormonism

Gay marriage outlawed anew in California. Are Mormons to blame?

"Polygamous relationships tend to be very successful"