Prop. 8 Opponents Rally at Mormon Temple

PROTEST AT MORMON TEMPLE (MEGHAN QUINN) | ADVOCATE.COM

At Wednesday night’s rally in West Hollywood, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center CEO Lorri Jean invited the crowd to join her Thursday at 2 p.m. at Los Angeles’s Mormon Temple.

Some 2,000 people lined the sidewalk in front of the temple, located just outside of Century City, waving banners, talking to the press, and screaming “Shame on you” as church members looked on from behind the temple’s gates.

Local camera crews surrounded the demonstration. CNN and MSNBC broadcast live coverage online.

The message was simple -- the Mormon Church raised, depending on estimates, anywhere from 48% to 73% of the money behind the effort to pass Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage in the state of California.

According to demonstrators and volunteers from the No on 8 campaign, the Mormon Church violated laws governing the church’s tax-exempt status by involving itself financially in a political battle. Protesters stood in front of the temple with signs urging that the denomination be taxed.

Thursday morning, links to a website petition to tax the Mormon Church were circulated via e-mail and social networking sites.

Jean and other No on 8 staffers took advantage of the media attention Thursday to launch a new initiative. InvalidateProp8.org will take donations to overturn the marriage ban, and donations will be made in the name of Mormon church President Thomas Monson.

Following the demonstration several protesters once again took it to the street, this time in the Westwood neighborhood, near the University of California, Los Angeles, campus. At one point some protesters sat down in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard, prompting police to divert traffic.

CNN followed this march, like yesterdays,via a live feed on its Website. The march eventually gained momentum and again headed back for West Hollywood -- a four mile hike, much of it during rush hour.

Talk radio hosts briefly mentioned an altercation between members of the church and protesters during late night programs on Thursday, but these reports are as yet unconfirmed. (Ross von Metzke, The Advocate)

Keywords: 2008 Election Prop 8

Related stories from Advocate.com

2009-07-02: The Faces of Federal Prop. 8
2009-06-20: The Great Undoing?
2009-06-03: The Upside of Prop. 8
2009-05-29: Pastors: No Marriage for Straight People
2009-05-28: Aftermath: Day of Decision

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: E.
Date posted: 2008-11-19 2:05 AM
Hometown: Chicago

Comment:

As I was reading a lot of the comments on this thread, the Fundamentalist Mormons (FLDS) is confused witht he mainstream Mormons (LDS). Prop 8 had been voted upon by a majority of people, they came from all walks of life. I am a Latter-Day Saint member, but even if I am not, I still do not agree with same sex marriage. People talk about our constitutional rights and our freedom to choose. According to Abraham Lincoln, it is for those who choose what is right. It has nothing to do with hating gays or lesbians. It's about protecting the natural family. Each of us became a person through a man and a woman. It's a very simple fact of life.

Name: Kirk Rader
Date posted: 2008-11-08 8:32 AM
Hometown: Reno, NV

Comment:

Every time Obama and Biden publicly opposed equal rights for the GLBT community, they gave permission to Black and Hispanic citizens both to vote for him and for writing discrimination into the California constitution. Every time Obama appealed to his personal religious beliefs as a justification for public policy positions he gave encouragement to the Mormon, Catholic and other churches to funnel tens of millions dollars into the propaganda campaign of lies that convinced enough Californians to embrace hatred and bigotry. Never again support a candidate who opposes fair and equal rights for all Americans. Never again be swayed by appeals to vote for the lesser evil. Only support candidates who fully embrace true equality for all, even if that means supporting candidates who you know cannot win in the short term. Maybe if the Democrats start losing elections because they have pushed the GLBT community out of their coaltion they will finally stop stabbing us in the back.

Name: Michael Allen
Date posted: 2008-11-08 12:53 AM
Hometown: San Francisco

Comment:

We have a large Tongan community south of San Francisco almost all belonging to the Mormon church. They blanketed the area with Yes on 8 signs. Each house had a sign as well as every traffic island, freeway entrance and every busy street corner. As a city employee I was taking down illegal signs as fast as they were putting them up. This is part of my job responsibility as well as it was a personal fight. I was married to my partner of 26 years, October 21 in San Francisco at City Hall. At the end of an angry day the final kick in the stomach was a comment a fellow Tongan employee was heard to have said. He believed half of his fellow Tongans out on the street that day campaigning for discrimination were not even full citizens of this country! People not even citizens of The United States of America are in my country telling me that I don't deserve equal rights. Incredible!

Name: Granny
Date posted: 2008-11-07 9:05 PM
Hometown: Menifee

Comment:

God bless everyone of you who particdipated in the protest. I wish I were physically able to join you but I will continue to contribute to our cause. In this election as concerns Prop 8 the people did not speak, the churches did. They preached it from the pulpits, posted signs in and around their churches and brow beat simple souls into voting for it. The Catholic church is so big on anti-abortion they ignored that proposition to attack us while preaching brotherly love. They need to be subject to taxes as do the Mormons, Fill out those IRS complaint forms and tell our spineless Governor to get his tax money out of them. The Log Cabin Republicans should crawl back inro their holes and stay there.

Name: Amelia Ketzle
Date posted: 2008-11-07 1:04 PM
Hometown: Carbondale, IL

Comment:

Here's a scary fact about Mormons that you could use to turn mainstream America against them - according Jon Krakauer's book "Under the Banner of Heaven", at their current rate of conversion and expansion, by 2050, the US government will be INOPERABLE without the cooperation of the Mormon church. For some inexplicable reason, their conversion rates are extremely high. Also, their practice of having lots of kids is exponentially growing their numbers. And, the FLDS churches where they still practice polygamy multiply those reproductive numbers by however many "spiritual wives" they have. Since polygamous marriages aren't legally recognized, those children are considered to be outside of wedlock and the mothers receive welfare money on EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE KIDS. That money is given back to the church to make it that much richer and more formidable a force in American politics.

Name: Jim
Date posted: 2008-11-07 11:00 AM
Hometown: Los Angeles

Comment:

The Mormon church has had a decades-long history of opposition to civil liberties for gay men and lesbians. But they're vulnerable. They have a founder they venerate, Joseph Smith, who was not only a polygamist, but a pedophile. Their clumsy, but successful attempt to "buy" status and respect of other Christian denominations, indicates what a massive inferiority complex they have. But the Catholic church also deserves to be held up to ridicule and contempt. Their pedophile-hiding archbishop, Mahony, who should have long ago been arrested, tried and convicted for his complicity in hiding pedophile priests who preyed on thousands of children, still continues to preach hatred and intolerance toward gay men and lesbians. He helped to marshal the votes of millions of catholic "faithful" to vote Yes on Hate.

Name: Katherine
Date posted: 2008-11-07 8:32 AM
Hometown: Woodbridge

Comment:

I sent in money from NJ when I heard that the Mormon church was financing a push for Yes on 8. I also tried to rally folks I know in California to get to the polls. Imagine the disappointment when I learned that many of the folks I know did not vote at all. Why is there so much apathy in the gay community? Just because you are not in a relationship right now does not mean that this decision does not have an affect on you. Who will stand up for your rights if you will not stand up for your own? Fellow brothers and sisters of the love that dare not speak it's name, we HAVE to learn to speak up. It costs us nothing to go to the voting booth and costs us everything when civil rights are determined by popularity. Please wake up.

Name: Tri
Date posted: 2008-11-06 8:34 PM
Hometown: Orange County, CA

Comment:

Back in May, in my history class, we discussed about civil right movement and couple of days after that lecture, I received the delightful news that gay marriage was then legal. I strongly thought, believed, hoped that was really a civil right major history for LGBT community. During the election night, like the author, I was elated by the new president elect but then extremely disappointed and sad when raw vote numbers of prop 8 appeared! Dolefully, our marriage right is literally taken away; bigotry, explicit discrimination still prevail! As a individual of the next, coming generation, one of minority group, a member of LGBT community, I am denied a fundamental right and "guaranteed" a long-term discrimination! No doubt, I feel melancholy about that. However, brighly and realistically, I adamantly know and believe that people of my generation are coming differently and with our LGBT indomitable spirit and ceaseless fight, we will win and achieve substantially!

Name: Tri
Date posted: 2008-11-06 8:17 PM
Hometown: Orange county, CA

Comment:

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