‘8: The Mormon Proposition’ is one more argument for the separation of church and state
by Nancy Ford
It’s highly appropriate that 8: The Mormon Proposition should be produced by David & Goliath Pictures. It tells the story of right versus might, good versus evil, the little guy going up against the big guy. Except this time, Goliath wins. At least, for now.
In this case, David is played by the LGBT community—specifically, the community of Californian gays and straights who were thrown into turmoil with the Pushmi-Pullyu events of that state’s struggle to achieve marriage equality.
In 2004, the California State Assembly ruled that same-sex couples were entitled to all the legal protections and advantages of opposite-sex couples, and 15,000 same-sex couples took advantage of that right. Traditional marriage proponents who felt threatened by the status quo being restructured to accommodate all, instead of just some, swung into action by passing Proposition 8 in November of 2008—a piece of legislation that invalidated the court’s ruling, laying to ruin the marriages of 15,000 same-sex couples.
Playing Goliath in spearheading the uprising against Prop 8 was the Mormon Church. “The face of sin
often wears the mask of tolerance,” extolled Latter-day Saints elder M. Russell Ballard in a message to the Mormons. Turns out, the concept of same-sex marriage contradicts the Mormon Church’s plan for heaven. Upon death, faithful Mormon-married men and women become spirit gods living on their own planets with their own spirit children, reproducing throughout infinity—which makes us wonder where infertile Mormons are going to spend their afterlife.
By the time the legislative dust had settled, Goliath had siphoned as much as $22 million to pass Prop 8. Putting that figure in perspective, Mormons make up two percent of California’s population, yet accounted for 71 percent of Prop 8 campaign contributions. Meanwhile, a ruling on Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a legal challenge to Prop 8, has yet to be issued.
Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, narrates this infuriating documentary which deftly details why it’s going to take a mighty army of strategically hurled stones to loosen the Mormon Church’s stranglehold on the state of California—and beyond.
From Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com).
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