Gay activists target Mormons for same-sex marriage ban's success in California

In the nearly four weeks since Election Day, gay activists and thousands of their supporters have rallied outside Mormon temples around the country, protesting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' support for California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to make same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State.

There have been calls to boycott the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah; some activists have called for a boycott of the entire state of Utah. Protesters have defaced some church buildings, and in Arapaho County, Colo., the Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible hate crime — the torching of the Book of Mormon on a church's doorstep.

Even the state of California itself has announced that it is investigating the church's involvement in Proposition 8, which was approved by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent and, barring a Supreme Court overturn, will ban gay marriage in the state.

There have been no other reports of backlash against other groups that supported Prop 8, notably African-Americans and other churches and religious denominations that turned out in heavy numbers to push through the ban.

Exit polls after the Nov. 4 vote showed that 70 percent of black voters and more than half of Latino voters voted yes on Prop 8. About two-thirds of self-identified Christians supported the ban, and married voters and parents also showed strong support. The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Church and evangelical groups in the state also urged for a ban on gay marriage.

So why is the Mormon Church the only target?

It's because of the money, says Evan Wolfe, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based group that supports same-sex marriage.

"The Mormon Church hierarchy led the way on this attack on gay families and the California constitution," Wolfe said. "They provided more than half of the funding. They provided the ground troops and were a major political force in a way that no other group was.

"It's not like there's one centralized voice telling everyone whom to protest. People have their own reactions to what they see with their own eyes, and what they saw here was a $40 million deceptive campaign to take away rights, led by the Mormon Church hierarchy."

Lorri Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, wrote on the organization's Web site that she doesn't blame African-Americans or minority groups for the passage of Prop. 8.

"We have been critical of all of the out-of-state conservative religious groups that made significant contributions to the campaign, including the Knights of Columbus National Headquarters in Connecticut and Focus on the Family in Colorado. But the truth is that the LDS church leadership in Utah specifically directed its membership to get involved with the Yes campaign in an unprecedented way — both in terms of volunteer time and dollars," Jean wrote.

"The campaign they funded was one of lies and deceit, clearly in violation of the religious tenet of “thou shalt not lie.”

Ron Buckmire, president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, an organization that organizes African-Americans for gay rights in Southern California, said fewer African-Americans supported the gay-marriage ban than was originally reported -- 57 percent instead of 70.

"People were emotional after Obama being elected and recognizing the ideal that the African American and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community were part of one large progressive alliance that were going to enact change … was not necessarily true," Buckmire said.

"Once they realized that, and that some of the data is not exactly correct and they were actually being hateful to some African-Americans, I think they then focused on the Mormons, the religious people and some Republicans as well."

Rev. Roland Stringfellow, coordinator of the Bay Area Coalition of Welcoming Congregations, a network of gay-friendly religious organizations, said that he has heard of African American individuals being harassed for the passage of Prop 8, but that many are using the Mormon Church as a scapegoat for their anger.

Mormon voters themselves had little effect on the ballot initiative's outcome, simply because the Mormon population is small in California. There are only about 750,000 Mormons in the state, about 2 percent of its 38 million residents.

But over 59,000 Mormon families contributed to the Yes on 8 effort, Karger said. "Without the Mormon money it would have been a very different campaign."

Mormons also donated time — walking through California neighborhoods to get voters talking about Prop 8, he said.

In the weeks after Nov. 4, of Gay activist John Aravosis, editor of Americablog.com, called on Hollywood to shun the Sundance Film Festival, held just a few hours' drive from Salt Lake City.

"Anyone who attends Sundance is quite literally funding the enemy," he wrote. Aravosis also called for a boycott of tourism and skiing in the "Hate State of Utah."

California Musical Theatre Artistic Director Scott Eckern, a Mormon and graduate of Brigham Young University, resigned from his position with the Sacramento theater group on Nov. 12 after undergoing pressure from artists who scorned his decision to give $1,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign.

And last week, Californians Against Hate filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that the Mormon Church did not report all of its non-monetary contributions to the campaign.

"I just want to make sure that when they involve themselves in California elections that they play by the rules," Karger said.

"They bused people into California the last three weekends going door to door and out with signs on the major intersects and major highways. It’s a common California roadside activity, but they did it with hundreds and hundreds of people," Karger said.

On Friday, the commission said it would investigate the complaint.

Californians Against Hate also has called on gay-marriage supporters to boycott A-1 Storage facilities around the state because the business's owner gave more than $700,000 to the Yes on 8 cause.

On Nov. 14, Mormon Church leaders issued a statement criticizing the backlash.

"Since the people of California voted to reaffirm the sanctity of traditional marriage between a man and a woman on November 4, 2008, places of worship have been targeted by opponents of Proposition 8 with demonstrations and, in some cases, vandalism," the church's First Presidency wrote.

"Attacks on churches and intimidation of people of faith have no place in civil discourse over controversial issues. People of faith have a democratic right to express their views in the public square without fear of reprisal. Efforts to force citizens out of public discussion should be deplored by people of goodwill everywhere."

But gay activists say they are right to single out the Mormons for the success of California's ballot initiative.

"What is clear in any case is that we did not lose this election because of African Americans," Lorri Jean wrote.

"Even if African Americans had voted for and against Prop 8 in the same proportion as white voters, we still would have lost."

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Madonna feels sad about her personal life, yet lucky and blessed professionally

Madonna has broken her silence about her split from Guy Ritchie - revealing her gruelling tour schedule is helping her through her personal troubles.

In an interview with the Associated Press, she says her intense schedule "provides a distraction that keeps me going", adding, "I'm sad about my personal life, but I feel very blessed and very lucky that I have the opportunity to do what I do in my professional life. It would be horrible if I was just thinking about getting a divorce and had nothing to do."

In addition to wrapping up her worldwide Sticky & Sweet tour, the star is currently promoting her documentary I Am Because We Are, about the poverty stricken African nation of Malawi.

Madonna and Ritchie were rumored to have split as early as this summer, but have kept quiet about details of their divorce despite relentless media attention.

They have agreed to share custody of son Rocco, eight, and adopted David, three, while Madonna's 12-year-old daughter Lourdes, from a previous relationship, will live with her mother.

Britney's mystery man

Britney Spears apparently wasn't exaggerating when she groused in her new documentary that her carefully controlled life lacks "passion" and "excitement." The popster looked beyond bored Monday night as she arrived at a Los Angeles eatery in a Porsche driven by a well-chiseled male model-type reportedly named Marco, an entrance that touched off a paparazzi frenzy that required police assistance. But it seems her subdued mood (and wardrobe, courtesy of a blah brown turtleneck) wasn't due to her date -- because it wasn't a date. E! News identifies Brit's tall, dark and handsome companion as the general manager of the salon owned by stylist Kim Vo, who tends to her problem tresses. Vo downplays that the two are just "good friends" and that there are no romantic overtones. Besides, dinner also included Spears' manager, Larry Rudolph, along with her assistant and several other members of her inner circle. Still, Star is convinced there's something more than friendship and hair-care gab sessions afoot. "It is a fresh relationship, but Marco thinks the world of Britney and Britney really trusts him -- the two have been officially dating for just a few weeks," asserts a source. "It is going really well and both are really happy with one another."

Paris Hilton and Benji Madden split

Paris Hilton has called it quits with BF Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden, Star magazine reported. “Paris was fed up with Benji always telling her what to do and bossing her around,” an insider told the mag. “She couldn’t take his overbearing ways anymore. It was stressing her out. He can be very aggressive and he was just too much trouble.”
The final straw allegedly came when Paris spent the night out last weekend with ex-boytoy, Greek heir Stavros Niarchos. “She felt she couldn’t cut loose and party,” says the source. “He doesn’t drink and doesn’t think she should either. She felt too fenced in.”

Mormons blame gay activists for mailing containing white powder

Someone sent envelopes containing a suspicious (but, it turns out, harmless) white powder to the Salt Lake City headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to an LDS temple in Los Angeles.

The church says the culprits are extremists who opposed the recently enacted ban on gay marriage in California. Mormons were among those who were most active in getting the measure passed.

But according to this Associated Press story, "Investigators have not publicly cited any evidence that the mailings were linked to the Mormon church's support of the measure, and a gay rights group in Utah disputed that gay protesters were involved."

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Gays and lesbians demonstrated against the banning of same-sex marriage

Gay rights anger goes nation wide

Among those at the New York rally were David Allen, who married his partner Michael McGrann under Massachusetts law in 2004. The couple has since adopted a son, Theo.

"One of the things that was really offensive to me about the whole gay marriage campaign was how they tried to be pro-family, yet they wanted to disallow my family," said Mr Allen. "It's hard to know how this is going to continue. I think it's great there's been such a response to it."

He said if court challenges to Proposition 8 failed to defeat it, then it would be challenged at the ballot box in two years' time.

Following last week's demonstration, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a weekend plea for restraint.

The church said that both sides of the Proposition 8 argument had ample opportunity to express their views and more than 40 states in the US had now voted against gay marriage.

"Attacks on churches and intimidation of people of faith have no place in civil discourse over controversial issues. People of faith have a democratic right to express their views in the public square without fear of reprisal," the church said.

The church has renounced polygamy, although it is still practised by sects claiming to adhere to "fundamentalist Mormon" principles.

Kim Stoltz, a competitor on reality television's America's Next Top Model, said that the "arc of history" was on the side of supporters of gay marriage.

If no voters over the age of 65 had taken part, Proposition 8 would have have failed, she said.

"I am an American citizen, I am gay and I believe I will be equal," Ms Stoltz said.

Prop. 8 result energizes gay-rights supporters

As the world now knows, last week's passage of Proposition 8 did little to end the roiling debate over whether gays and lesbians should have the right to marry.
In fact, California's vote to ban same-sex marriage – the second in eight years – has only further divided the two sides by igniting a wave of protests and boycotts among supporters of such unions.

For the second straight weekend, thousands of San Diegans are expected to take to the streets today to demand gays be permitted to marry their partners. Simultaneous marches are scheduled in all 50 states.

It's not clear what effect the continuing outcry will have on the fate of the California proposition – at the ballot box, in court or in the court of public opinion.

But there is no doubt the election's aftermath has energized gay-rights supporters and frustrated those who say two votes to preserve marriage as a union between one man and one woman should be respected.

“It's easy to sustain energy when your rights have been taken away,” said Sara Beth Brooks, who helped organize today's march in San Diego. “We had these rights. We were able to be married, and now those rights have been stripped from us.”
Carol Hogan of the California Catholic Conference said protests erupted in the vote's wake because gay-rights supporters expected to win.
“Will they be effective? I don't know,” said Hogan, whose group lobbies on behalf of Catholic bishops and helped pass Proposition 8. “But I know for a fact that if the vote had gone the other way you wouldn't being seeing protests. We would have been disappointed, but we wouldn't be protesting.”

Supporters of same-sex marriage say the law should provide equal rights and protections to all people. They see demonstrations and political activism as ways to exert pressure on judges who will consider the lawsuits and on voters who embraced the marriage ban.

“It makes every person who voted for that proposition re-examine the impact of that vote on their future, their families and the lives of other people,” said Ron Yardley, a Carmel Valley travel agent who has followed the protests but not participated.

“It's more of a civil rights issue than a protect-marriage issue.”
Opponents of Proposition 8 are pursuing a two-pronged strategy to restore same-sex marriages – challenging the initiative's constitutionality at the state Supreme Court and readying a new measure for the 2010 ballot that would reverse the ban.

Mark DiCamillo, who directs the nonpartisan Field Poll, said Nov. 4 was an optimal opportunity for supporters of same-sex marriage because so many people turned out for the historic election – including younger voters more inclined to support gay and lesbian rights.

DiCamillo said younger voters likely won't turn out in large numbers again until at least the next presidential race in 2012. “With the generational change in the electorate, it's coming your way, but give it a few more years,” DiCamillo said.

Legal experts say the state Supreme Court is not likely to reject Proposition 8 because the measure amended the state Constitution, defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate, a San Diego nonprofit that has been organizing protests against Yes on 8 contributors since July, said the election result jump-started what he regarded as a lackadaisical effort by gay-rights supporters.

“It lit a fire under the gay community and our allies,” said Karger, who filed a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint Thursday against the Mormon church. “This is going to change history forever and speed up our civil rights movement by probably a generation.”
Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate, a San Diego nonprofit that has been organizing protests against Yes on 8 contributors since July, said the election result jump-started what he regarded as a lackadaisical effort by gay-rights supporters.

“It lit a fire under the gay community and our allies,” said Karger, who filed a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint Thursday against the Mormon church. “This is going to change history forever and speed up our civil rights movement by probably a generation.”

The complaint accuses the church of failing to report the full value of the work it did campaigning for the ban.

Jeff Flint, a top Yes on 8 strategist, said singling out specific people shows a lack of respect for the majority will. He predicted the protests would prove to be counterproductive.

“The outrageous religious bigotry and targeting churches for their protests, threatening the jobs and livelihoods of people who were active in the campaign, I think that crosses the line and the voters see that,” he said.

The demonstrations and boycotts, primarily organized by grass-roots volunteers who were not in charge of the No on 8 campaign, prompted leaders of that campaign to issue a statement warning their supporters to behave respectfully.

“We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight,” the campaign said. “We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss.”

Mormons were not the only advocates preaching “yes” votes on the same-sex marriage ban. In the weeks before the election, ministers from many faiths asked their congregations to approve the initiative and give to the Yes on 8 campaign.

The Rev. Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Church in Rancho San Diego, was one of the most visible religious leaders advocating for Proposition 8. He said protesters, judges and elected officials should respect the election result.

“That's how democracy works,” Garlow said. “People vote, and one side wins.”

Support for the ban was especially strong in the black and Latino communities, according to exit polls, likely because faith and values trumped any empathy for the gay community's claims of discrimination.

The Rev. George Walker Smith, retired pastor of Christ United Presbyterian Church in San Diego and founder of the Catfish Club speakers bureau, said he was disappointed but not surprised by how his fellow African-Americans voted. He attributed it to their faith and what they've been taught.

“I would have voted “no” 100 times if I could have,” he said. “It's a foolish effort on the part of people trying to control other people's lives.”

Christina Aguilera doesn't know who Lady Gaga is ?

Christina Aguilera responded to the Gaga issue in an interview with the LA Times

What do you say to those on the Internet who are hinting that you borrowed Lady Gaga’s look?

You know, that’s funny that you mention that. This person [Lady Gaga] was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I’m not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman. I just wasn’t sure. I really don’t spend any time on the Internet, so I guess I live a little under a rock in that respect.

Pregnant man Thomas Beatie has another bun in the oven

Thomas Beatie, the Pregnant due, is knocked up again !
Thomas barely popped out a baby girl named Susan this past June.
In an interview with Babwa on ABC, Thomas and his wife Nancy told her they are going to have their second kid this June!

Thomas told that he did not go back on the male hormone testosterone after Susan's birth so he could have another baby. 'I feel good,' he said. 'I had my checkups with my hormone level, as far as the HCG. And everything is right on track.' He says the baby is due June 12."

Gays and lesbians demonstrated against the banning of same-sex marriage

The California Supreme Court ruled in May that it was unconstitutional to ban gays and lesbians from marrying. Opponents immediately began work on Prop 8.

Supporters of same-sex marriage demonstrated Sunday at a number of churches across the state. Evangelical Christians, the Roman Catholic Church and the Mormon Church actively supported passage of Prop 8.

Carrying signs that read “You Cannot Vote Away Civil Rights,” hundreds protested in front of the Saddleback Church, an Orange County mega-church.

In Oakland, demonstrators crowded onto a roadway in front of a Mormon temple, prompting the California Highway Patrol to close off an exit ramp, because they feared some demonstrators could be hit by traffic.

Thousands of others demonstrated against the amendment in front of the state Capitol in Sacramento.

On Friday, tensions flared at a vigil at Palm Springs City Hall, when a supporter of the gay marriage ban carrying a plastic foam cross clashed with protesters, according to The Desert Sun. The crowd ripped the cross from her hands and stomped on it. Police made no arrests.

On Saturday, 10,000 supporters of gay marriage took to the streets in Los Angeles. Another 10,000 demonstrated in San Diego.

About 2,000 people gathered in Long Beach Friday night and there were three arrests. A thousand people also marched Friday in San Francisco.

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