California Prop 8

The Prop 8 debate has caused polarization between white gay community and African Americans. Saying "Gay is the new black" poses the problems for many African Americans

As someone who was raised in the Mormon Church and fulfilled my two-year missionary assignment overseas, I know something about Latter-day Saints teachings.

December 10 is International Human Rights Day. But this year, in response to the passage of anti gay marriage initiatives in three states this past November, it's taken on an added dimension.

Although Prop 8 wasn't exactly a remake of Prop 6, it's the same disaster movie storyline pitch: any recognition of constitutional rights for gay and lesbian citizens will somehow destroy the natural order.

The most irreligious nations right now are among the most successful, while the most religious nations tend to be among the most destitute.

A friend of mine who supports same sex marriage said some anti-8 protesters were "a well-intentioned mob," and the phrase "witch-hunt" has been used more than once.

By passing Prop 8, the California electorate may well now have violated parallel guarantees contained in the United States Constitution. We have been here before.

This movement for equal rights is based on the belief in the equal protection of the law. That means equal protection for us, but it also means equal protection for the people who hate us.

To my brothers and sisters in the GLBT movement and our friends, peaceful protests, boycotts and community organizing are the tools of our trade and ultimately the things that will win this struggle.

Gay rights supporters are surprised that African Americans could have voted against gay marriage believing that they, more than anyone, should understand discrimination.

True or False: 1) We should eliminate civil rights through popular vote, as long as a very narrow majority of voters agree. 2) Special interests and ...

Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be moved to name the behavior of these institutions for what it is -- and question their tax-exempt status.

Does the voting public of this great state of California, who correctly voted to pass Proposition 2 -- which legislated to give caged chickens more room in their cages -- have to actually see the cage that gay people have been put in all theses years to get it?

In the new age of Barack Obama there is perhaps no greater lingering vestige of systemic bigotry than the barring of same sex marriages.

Sadly, many voters did not see past their fears to understand how denying LGBT people rights is cut from the same cloth of discrimination that made Obama's election such a poignant event.

While we rightfully celebrate the election of our first African American president, let us take a moment to mourn the passage of three new laws legalizing prejudice.

I acknowledge that I did little or next to nothing to help. The passage of Prop 8 has galvanized me, though, and I won't make the same mistake twice. I plan to participate now.

The irony that the same Mormon religion that has battled for the rights of the polygamous was at the forefront of Prop 8 aside, the Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. United States that the law of the land superseded the mores of a religion.

Given their history, Mormons know about being targeted for being different. Yet in a full-on offensive, the LDS Church mobilized in favor of California's Prop 8, a ballot initiative that bans gay marriage.

So this is what it's like to feel proud to be an American again. And at the very same time, we are supremely filled with shame as Californians.

Amidst all of the excitement at the election of Barack Obama and all that it says about our progress as a nation, some things happened on Tuesday that should remind us of how far we still have to go.

I was shocked and offended to learn that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had thrown down $200K to back Prop 8, which would revoke the right of same-sex couples to get married.

The Mormons' donations are well known. But little attention has been focused on two of the proposition's biggest individual donors.

Everyone should have the choice to marry the person they love. It's a personal and fundamental freedom guaranteed by the California constitution.