Mormon challenge to gay marriage ban

Posted on July 10, 2008
Filed Under Gay News Blog

Some Mormons are rejecting their prophet’s call to campaign for a ban on same-sex marriage in California, suggesting the church leadership’s sway over the issue of homosexuality may be weakening.

In a letter circulated to all the state’s congregations June 29, President and Prophet Thomas Monson called on Mormons to “do all you can” to support the November ballot measure “by donating of your means and time.”

The church strongly supported a successful 2000 California proposition that prohibited same-sex unions. The state Supreme Court struck down the measure May 15, opening the door for same-sex marriages.

The intervening years have brought a more widespread acceptance of homosexuality.

“In the eight years since the state proposition we have all become more educated,” said Walnut Creek Mormon author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson.

“Most people have realized they have a gay family member or a gay friend or people they work with who are gay. Most people are less quick to judge,” she said.

“The LDS church — any church — has the right to do whatever it wishes, but I applaud the California Supreme Court’s decision,” said Martinez resident Susan Randall, an active Mormon.

Church officials declined to comment, referring calls to the Sacramento coalition behind the ballot measure.

Mormon challenge to gay marriage ban
Inside Bay Area, CA