More than 1,000 protesters showed up to demonstrate in front of the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Friday, November 7, to protest the church’s involvement with the passing of Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution banning gay marriages. Protesters have claimed that the church as an institution made small cash donations to the Proposition 8 campaign. It appears that many members of the church (also known Mormons) donated to the “Yes on 8″ campaign, which was passed on Tuesday with 52% support. Similar constitutional provisions were passed in Florida and Arizona during this election, and such provisions already exist in 27 other states, with a further 15 featuring statutory bans on same sex marriages. According to a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, the Temple grounds were vandalized by protesters, and a group of apparently non-LDS Hispanic women attempting to remove critical signs from temple grounds were attacked before police stepped in and arrested those involved.
Jeff Flint, a strategist for Yes on 8, has criticized the protest and related negative media placed on those Latter-day Saints members who supported Proposition 8: “I am appalled at the level of Mormon-bashing that went on during the Proposition 8 campaign and continues to this day. If this activity were directed against any other church, if someone put up a website that targeted Jews or Catholics in a similar fashion for the mere act of participating in a political campaign, it would be widely and rightfully condemned.”
F. Damion Barela, who had obtained a homosexual marriage five months ago, said, “I’m disappointed in the Californians who voted for this.” In particular, he was bothered that some ethnic groups supported the ban. “To them I say, ‘Shame on you because you should know what this feels like,’” he added.
In addition to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Proposition 8 was strongly supported by many other Christian groups, and was also supported by the Hispanic population of California, and overwhelmingly by its African-American population. Protests have targeted these communities as well.
Protests were held in other cities throughout the country in opposition to Proposition 8. Several other churches have been vandalized by protesters since its passage.
