Gay rights advocates fear that Mormons in Nauvoo might try to undermine civil unions up for debate in Springfield today. They point to the church’s overwhelming financial support of California’s Proposition 8, the successful ballot measure that made it illegal for lesbian and gay couples to marry.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, accused the Latter-day Saints of sending a private e-mail to Illinois members, urging them to contact state legislators and voice opposition to the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, a bill that would define “civil union” as a legal relationship between two persons, of either the same or opposite sex. It would also entitle both parties of a civil union to the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits afforded to spouses.

The bill has been scheduled for a hearing in the Illinois House of Representatives Youth and Family Committee today. If the bill is voted out of committee, it becomes eligible for a vote before the full Illinois House of Representatives.

But Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the national church, said the e-mail was not part of a church wide opposition campaign. The church’s engagement with political causes is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It is unclear if the Illinois legislation would violate church doctrine as interpreted by Latter-day Saints.

“As is widely known, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of traditional marriage,” she said in a statement. “The Church has not taken a position on any legislation currently being considered by the Illinois State Legislature … An e-mail was sent from a local Illinois Church leader to his congregation – one of 129 congregations in the state — who was free to express his own views.”

The e-mail in question was sent to at least one Mormon ward in Illinois and authorized by Bishop Chris Church of Nauvoo.

The message warns recipients that the legislation would “empower the public schools to begin teaching this lifestyle to our young children regardless of parental requests otherwise.” 

MORE @ The Seeker – Chicago Tribune Blog

The day after Proposition 8, a Mormon supported ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, passed in California, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints released a formal statement saying, “the church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights.”

Last week however, a Utah bill that would have allowed two people who live together and who are mutually dependent and named in a will or trust to a wrongful death court action if a tragedy occurred, was defeated in a state senate committee after opponents of the bill argued that offering any legal recognition to same-sex couples, including the right to sue when a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death, could lead to a court decision legalizing gay marriage.

This week in an effort to sway voters in that state and prevent other of Equality Utah’s legislative initiative’s remaining bills from going down in flames, Equality Utah has come out swinging with a major multimedia ad blitz that turn the tables and proclaims…

“The Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples …”

In a press statement Equality Utah said…

Several polls have indicated that the majority of Utahns support the reasonable and basic protections provided for in the legislation of the Common Ground
Initiative.

Yet lawmakers rebuffed one of the Common Ground Initiative bills last week, recalling tired arguments that the proposals are somehow an attack on traditional marriage.

Far from pessimistic about the ability of Utah legislators see passed the tired arguments that surfaced during last week’s hearing, Equality Utah has launched a media campaign to help raise awareness of the reasonableness and broad public support of the basic ideals of the Common Ground Initiative.

“We’ve modeled our legislative proposals directly from the statements of the LDS Church,” said Mike Thompson, Equality Utah’s Executive Director. “We’re talking about basic rights that have broad public support and have nothing to do with marriage. We hope this media campaign will help Utahns see passed the fear-based arguments used against this legislation.”

More of Equality Utah uses the LDS own words in a new campaign for Gay Rights
Lez Get Real – Washington DC,District of Columbia,USA

Gays-rights proponents and opponents ramped up their rhetoric for and against Jon Huntsman Jr. on Wednesday — two days after Utah’s Republican governor revealed that he backs civil unions and other rights for same-sex couples.

“After that initial shock, I was incredibly impressed with him,” said gay-rights advocate Jacob Whipple, who staged a candlelight vigil outside of the Governor’s Mansion on Wednesday night to show support for Huntsman.

But earlier in the day, at the Capitol, opponents criticized the governor’s stance, which includes support for traditional marriage but also rights for same-sex couples.

“He is simply dead wrong on this issue,” said Frank Mylar, an attorney who belongs to the Utah Coalition

 See ‘Pro-family’ groups scold Huntsman; gay-rights advocates laud him.
Salt Lake Tribune, United States 

Gays-rights proponents and opponents ramped up their rhetoric for and against Jon Huntsman Jr. on Wednesday — two days after Utah’s Republican governor revealed that he backs civil unions and other rights for same-sex couples.

“After that initial shock, I was incredibly impressed with him,” said gay-rights advocate Jacob Whipple, who staged a candlelight vigil outside of the Governor’s Mansion on Wednesday night to show support for Huntsman.

But earlier in the day, at the Capitol, opponents criticized the governor’s stance, which includes support for traditional marriage but also rights for same-sex couples.

“He is simply dead wrong on this issue,” said Frank Mylar, an attorney who belongs to the Utah Coalition

 See ‘Pro-family’ groups scold Huntsman; gay-rights advocates laud him.
Salt Lake Tribune, United States 

The decade-old battle lines over same-sex marriage in Hawaii are being redrawn as lawmakers consider civil unions.

Opponents of civil union measures say it’s just same-sex marriage in a different package. Supporters say public opinion has shifted since Hawaii became the first state to ban gay marriage in its constitution.

An overflow crowd came to testify on one of several measures that would give same-sex partners rights through civil unions much like those in legal marriage.

“My wife got sick not long ago, she was in the hospital, no one questioned my right to be there by her side,” said Eric Gill, representing the Local 5 union.

Opponents stood sharply against any other rights beyond the reciprocal beneficiaries status conferred as a compromise after Hawaii’s gay marriage ban.

“You will be circumventing the will of the 70 percent of the people who voted your constituents who set you a strong and clear message by their vote to preserve traditional marriage,” said opponent Honolulu City Councilmember Gary Okino.

“The public opinion on this issue has changed dramatically,” said proponent Alan Spector of the Family Equality Coalition. “Today in 2009 this is not the controversial issue that is was in the 1990s.”

“If we feel that the tide has changed and that the people of Hawaii are now saying that we want same-sex marriage, then let’s put it to a (public) vote,” said Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, an opponent of civil unions.

 See Civil unions reawaken gay marriage divisions
KHON2 – Honolulu,HI,USA

Gays and lesbians — at least some of them — plan to refrain from working and shopping today as an expression of their dismay over Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 measure that banned same-sex marriage, and as a showing of both their economic clout and their place within the larger community. If organizers carry it off, this is exactly the kind of tactic that can make a difference, though its impact might have been bigger before election day.

For all the complaints (mainly coming from the Yes-on-8 campaign), boycotts against corporations or organizations are a time-honored method of expressing opinions and pushing for social or political change. But in the superheated Proposition 8 debate, this venerable tactic has occasionally been used in ugly ways. 

It started when the directors of the Yes-on-8 campaign sent letters to various companies that had donated to the opposition camp. The missives warned donors to pay an equal amount to the “Yes” side or risk being publicly outed as opponents of “traditional marriage” (the implication being that they would then face a boycott). The tactic looked and quacked a lot like extortion. It’s one thing to boycott, or threaten it; a demand for hush money goes over the line.

Since then, postelection boycott efforts by the other side — defenders of same-sex marriage — have expanded into a vengeful campaign against individuals who donated to the gay-marriage ban, usually in the form of pressure on their employers. At least two people have resigned from their jobs and a third is considering it, including the artistic director of a stage company in Sacramento and a manager at an L.A. eatery. 

 See Gay band to march in Presidential inauguration parade
PinkNews.co.uk, UK