As Peter is listening to gospel music in the stadium, he (no doubt) has had a vision. Love people regardless of their beliefs. Love over hate. “Love is a drug.” It could be the Atlanta Gospel Choir brainwashing him. Hell, it could be the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But maybe the brainwashing is more like brain “cleansing”. Like, our minds are so full of toxic ill-will that we need to consciously take some time for humanity. We need excuses to be kind…like Christmas.

Well, this is not Christmas. West Hollywood has incapacitated LA public transportation between the hours of 6 and 9pm. Near the freeway. Pretty much right in front of the Mormon Temple. There have been protests every day, nation-wide, against the passing of proposition 8. People dancing on cop cars, getting arrested, some even beaten. There has been a significant lack of tolerance on both sides of the prop 8 fence and one organization is catching most of the flack.

“I’d like to see a personal essay on how to move beyond this – perhaps looking at how the Mormon Church has softened its stance on other issues might be an appropriate starting point,” Peter writes me. How they’ve softened their stance? Well, that’s a tricky one because the church hardly ever comes out publicly to endorse issues and when they do, they’re not likely to soften.

My friends will tell you that I’m the first one to defend the Mormon Church. It was the way I was raised. Potlucks with jello and carrots. My parents’ sacred garments mixed in the laundry. 4 hours of church every Sunday. Meetings at night. Activities throughout the week. Service projects on the weekend. I was immersed.

Let me stress that. I was not burdened. I was too busy doing wholesome things and making myself a better citizen. And I wasn’t the only one. The entire LDS church is constructed by members who are so focused and determined on being good people, that they sometimes forget about the real world. When you’re white, it’s easy to ignore what it’s like to be a black sheep (even though a black sheep has as many constitutional rights as the white one).

I was in high school when proposition 22 was initiated. I had seminary at 6:00am every day before school and it was at this ungodly hour that I had the pleasure of voicing my opinion to my Mormon peers. Church was about worship and school certainly wasn’t about church. But for that hour before we were shuttled off to first period to learn about all sorts of things that didn’t end up mattering, it was socially acceptable for me to get on my soapbox. Most everyone disagreed with me (which was a bright and shining glimpse into my religion-free future) but that’s all it was. A disagreement. I wasn’t tarred and feathered, my teachers didn’t think I was evil for supporting gay marriage, and I don’t particularly remember a great, public fuss over the matter at any church functions. Of course, I wasn’t of voting age and my opinion wouldn’t statistically matter for another 3 years.

Still, it seems like the Mormon Church has been significantly more involved this election than in those of the past. This is interesting to me for two reasons: one, why are Latter-Day Saints all of the sudden, contributing loads of money to a proposition and two, there is a lot of fear behind those votes. Since I’ve long abandoned trying to figure out the agenda of any church, I’ll focus on the fear. I hate to be one to benefit from some else’s fear, but damn. This is a good sign. They’re afraid that we’re going to win. And we are.

Of course, this inevitable outcome won’t stop preachers and bishops from “guiding” their sheep. This is what my soon-to-be-a-missionary friend relayed to me on the topic of persuasion.

"Alright, if this must needs be talked about...I disagree with influencing votes but every candidate does it. It doesn't even take an election of any sorts. We influence others everyday to get what we want. It would have been best for the church to publicly state "we vote yes" and leave it at that but they didn't, they tried to persuade and that's bullshit. So do they deserve backlash? Well... it's justified. But do they deserve to be singled out, out of all the Catholics, Jews, Masons, etc that took part in the persuading too? Not so much. That’s bullshit. And petty."

And this is an official statement that surfaced from the LDS Church after the prop 8 protests started.

"While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information."

So in addition to being scared, these guys have to pick up garbage off the front lawn of their temples and a letter with white powder, feared to be anthrax, was even delivered to one of the churches. Some facts that make this a little more than disturbing are that not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Church leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility, respect and love," despite their differing views but there are still supporters who feel ostracized by their congregations. Some Mormons have even left the church because they feel unaccepted just because they voted against the proposition.

As we ask ourselves what to do next, there is a risk that the same divide that happened in the Mormon church will happen in the gay community. If protesting makes you feel better, please! By all means do it. If you’re thinking about criticizing others for not, please don’t. We need to respect other people’s decisions. We need to stop expecting absolute and totalitarian loyalty from people on “our side”. Sides wouldn’t even exist if I we didn’t believe there was a wall there. It’s arbitrary. It’s dangerous. And it’s not progressive.

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