Source: KSL , Salt Lake Tribune , KUTV Salt Lake City -- Gay activists in Utah are gearing up to push five bills during next year's legislative session, and they're calling on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to help them. Today, a group of Utah parents with gay children came forward to support the bills. They're calling it a byproduct of California's Proposition 8. All these bills have to do with gay rights for couples and individuals, KSL reports. The laws address things like this: Does a partner have the right to see a loved one ...

During the Yes on 8 and Yes on 102 Campaigns we learned that the leadership of the Mormon Church has little respect for honesty in campaigning. Although they were planned, funded, and implemented by religious groups, mainly Mormons, these campaigns were astonishly dishonest. Now the willingness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to make baseless claims has moved one step closer. I guess once you get comfortable with deception it becomes all the easier. In the past week, someone sent envelopes with a non-toxic white powder to two Mormon Temples. Due to the timing, some speculate that this ...

This morning’s New York Times has a the scoop on the extraordinary role the LDS church played in stripping gays and lesbians of their rights in California: As proponents of same-sex marriage across the country planned protests on Saturday against the ban, interviews with the main forces behind the ballot measure showed how close its backers believe it came to defeat — and the extraordinary role Mormons played in helping to pass it with money, institutional support and dedicated volunteers. “We’ve spoken out on other issues, we’ve spoken out on abortion, we’ve spoken out on those other kinds of things,” said ...

More problems for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which heavily bankrolled the campaign to ban same sex marriage. Authorities are investigating "letters containing white powder sent to Mormon temples in Utah and California." The Los Angeles... ...

Today at the El Coyote meeting I had the fortuity to sit at the table of someone who had at one time been the editor of a prominent national gay magazine. He told me a story which I find both believable and relevant. Some years ago, this magazine sent two persons under cover to Evergreen, the Mormon ex-gay ministry. One had participated before and was thus vetted, the other was his friend. At the conclusion of their efforts, the news magazine wrote up their experiences. And that’s when the Mormon legal team became engaged. My tablemate told me that there were two ...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints didn’t just rend the marriages of thousands of devoted, loving same sex couples.  They have ground under foot a good many longstanding community ties to local businesses too… El Coyote: An Uncompromising Faith About 75 people showed up for the early lunch at El Coyote Cafe to listen to [...] ...

Just one more wee little nugget of information concerning that art director who just resigned from the California Music Theater after it was discovered that he’d given one-thousand dollars to support Proposition 8… Lisa West, regional spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Eckern is a member "in very good standing" and [...] ...

On the day after election day, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a triumphant press release crowing about their smashing success in stripping gays of their rights in California and permanently assigning gays to second-class citizenship in Arizona and Florida. But they insisted that they weren’t anti-gay, or even opposed to some rights for gays and lesbians: … the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the ...

Dead, but baptized, Jews. Holocaust survivors said Monday they are through trying to negotiate with the Mormon church over posthumous baptisms of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps, saying the church has repeatedly violated a 13-year-old agreement barring the practice. Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they are making changes to their massive genealogical database that will make it more difficult for names of Holocaust victims to be entered for posthumous baptism by proxy, a rite that has been a common Mormon practice for more than a century. But Ernest Michel, honorary chairman of the American Gathering ...

The consequences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ decision to enter the political arena and seek secular enforcement of their religious doctrines can be measured in part by the chaos and turmoil caused in the lives and livelihoods of their own members. We know of families who have been torn apart by Mormon theology on human sexuality. We know of suicides and depression. We know of estranged children and miserable holidays. But we respect the rights of churches to select their own articles of faith - even those that bring unhappiness on those adherants who are ...

Via Sullivan…  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is more like a totalitarian state then a church, really… A reader writes: I believe you and the reader you quote are missing what is fundamentally different about the Mormon attacks. This was not typical church activism. The Mormon Prophet commanded that every California member give time [...] ...

The National Organization For Marriage wants to apply the same formula they used to outlaw same-sex marriage in California to prevent other states from recognizing same-sex marriage. They are targeting New York and New Jersey and are running radio and public television ads.The question is, who was behind the success of proposition 8? Was it just the Mormons? It was a coalition of evangelical Christians, Mormons and Roman Catholics by organizing and using the churches to send a message about what school children might be taught about gay relationships if the ban failed. The churches served as ...

Months before the first ads would run on Proposition 8, San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer reached out to a group he knew well, Mormons. Niederauer had made critical inroads into improving Catholic-Mormon relations while he was Bishop of Salt Lake City for 11 years. And now he asked them for help on Prop. 8, the ballot measure that sought to ban same-sex marriages in California. The June letter from Niederauer drew in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proved to be a critical move in building a multi-religious coalition - the backbone of the fundraising, ...

The passage of Proposition 8 has sparked gay outrage in a way I’ve not seen in many years. Of the 384 contributions to either side of Proposition 8 coming from Seattle, WA, only three were to support the amendment, a total of $350. So it is fair to say that the Mormon Church in Seattle was to any great extent responsible for the dissolution of marriage rights of California same-sex couples. But the battle lines have been drawn. The church has shown itself willing to throw tens of millions of dollars into campaigns to deny gay couples their rights and that any ...

Note to NYers: Peaceful Demonstration outside Manhattan Mormon Temple Wednesday night. More than 2,000 protestors demonstrated outside the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City on Friday night: "Preceded by an hour-long rally in a city park, the march comes three days after California voters approved Proposition 8. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged its members to work to pass the amendment by volunteering their time and money for the campaign. Church officials offered no statement on the rally and march Friday night, but have called for civility and respect in the gay marriage debate before and ...

Peaceful demonstration Wednesday night, November 12, 6:30 pm, New York Manhattan Mormon Temple, 125 Columbus Ave at 65th Street, New York, NY: "Tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters are in the streets in California and Salt Lake City and around the country protesting the votes banning same-sex marriage in California. Join them! Make your voices heard right here in New York City. We will tell the Mormon Church how we feel about its relentless campaign to condemn and control our lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was, by far, the biggest financer ...

Prop 8 passed and people are fucking pissed. There is more fallout yet to come over this issue. I can sense it. The Stranger is reporting of a protest for Sunday morning at 8 am in front of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at 5701 8th Ave NE. I am undecided as to whether this is a good idea or not but you will find the info here. ...

The Mormon church doesn’t like the attention it’s getting in the wake of California’s Prop 8. Church leaders released this statement yesterday: It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election. Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States - that of free expression and voting. While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have ...

By making that passage of California’s Proposition 8 a substantial part of its activities this year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has violated nonprofit law. Because it has broken the law, it should be stripped of its 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt status. This law will not be enforced unless complaints are filed against the LDS Church for its illegal activities.Please consider file a request with the IRS to take away the LDS Church’s tax-exempt status. Here’s what you need to do:1. Download this pre-filled IRS complaint form, and add your personal information to it: http://tinyurl.com/prefilled/. If ...

Source: " href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4728411">KSL TV A quickly-arranged protest near Salt Lake City's Mormon Temple initially attracted fewer protesters than organizers had hoped for Friday evening. A church-owned TV station, KSL, estimates that about 200 people gathered near Temple Square at around 6 pm. Salt Lake protesters said they are marching solidarity in with supporters of equality in California who have marched around the Los Angeles LDS temple. Protesters are upset that the financial support The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave to support...(read more) ...