We’re blacking the site out today to protest SOPA/PIPA

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How the Mormons bashed gays in Nebraska too

Prop 8 wasn't the Mormons' first time to the hate dance.  They've been bankrolling anti-gay legislation for at least two decades.  Here is one Mormon's story about how they helped push DOMA in the state of Nebraska.

I lived in Nebraska when a petition drive was held there to get DOMA on the ballot. At church we were not even asked if we wanted to gather signatures. We were handed packets (which I did not take) and several hours of our usual meetings were taken up with our bishop and stake president rallying the troops, so to speak – even sending people out on a Sunday gather signatures at the College World Series. I didn’t speak out against it. I just murmured with my like-minded friends about our disgust over the church getting involved. Hell, damn near running the whole thing. And happy, oh so happy, to join forces with evangelicals who agree with Mormons on nothing other than the so-called moral decline of society.

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Mormon bigots now pushing anti-gay constitutional amendment in Minnesota

Imagine the fun if Romney becomes president:

“I have a letter to read from the stake presidency.”

Those words rarely precede anything good in my experience. Such was the case last Sunday. Typically, edicts come down from the LDS first presidency (the head honchos in SLC). So whatever came next was going to be Minnesota related. That could only mean one thing. dun dun DUUUUN… WE CAN’T LET THE GAYS DESTROY THE FAMILY!

I could feel my blood pressure rising as I braced myself for whatever rhetoric was about to be unleashed. The gist of the letter was an explanation of the ballot initiative next November – if it passes, the state constitution would amend article XIII to read, “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota.” The letter did not come out and say which way to vote but the underlying message was clear. We were advised to remember the family is a fundamental unit of society and to read the Proclamation on the Family and prayerfully consider how to get involved. It concluded with a reminder that church buildings and directories are not to be used for political purposes – with this caveat – unless otherwise directed.

This initiative did not get on the ballot with a petition drive. It was put on by our state legislature. One of the drivers behind it was former GOP Senate Majority leader Amy Koch who stepped down from said post after it came to light that the married senator was having an “inappropriate relationship” with a male staffer. Our legislators who were so keen to pre-emptively attack other families would do well to focus on their own.

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Romney’s meandering voyage on gay rights

Igor Volsky at ThinkProgress reports on a new book by two Boston Globe reporters that looks at, among other things, Mitt Romney's all over the map positions on gay rights.

Still, from the very beginning there were signs that the embrace of gay equality represented a calculated attempt to win over votes in a moderate to liberal state, rather than a principled belief in civil rights. Several 1994 accounts published in the Boston Globe reported that just before launching his senate run, Romney told an audience of Mormon Church members that homosexuality was “perverse” and “reprehensible.” In 2002, his wife Ann and son Tagg “alarmed Romney’s gay supporters” by endorsing a state constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and “withheld domestic-partner benefits such as bereavement leave and health care coverage from the gay and lesbian partners of public employees.” Romney “quickly distanced himself from his family’s decision, saying he did not support the proposed ban” and the measure ultimately died.

As he prepared to make a run for national office, those initial seeds of doubts blossomed into a public repudiation of the cause for equality.

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Being gay in Honduras sucks

A seriously depressing article in the Miami Herald: about how lousy it is being gay in Honduras. one bright note: The Obama administration appears to have helped force the Honduran government to take the murder of gay and trans people seriously.

Under pressure from Washington, Honduran authorities ordered police to set up a unit to investigate crimes against gay people and others. The unit began work in November. That unit and a partner squad of a prosecutor, three detectives and two analysts have been given U.S. funds to function. Even so, there have been fewer than five arrests in LGBT slayings.

U.S. Ambassador Lisa Kubiske said she believes the policy emphasis to protect rights associated with sexual orientation will have an impact, and not just in Honduras.

"It's a little bit like Secretary Clinton's work with women. Some people laughed when she first started focusing on women-led initiatives. But over the years, she's encouraged a lot of people to get active," Kubiske said in an interview. "I'm sure that getting LGBT conversations into the mainstream of what gets discussed creates an acceptance, and when you use language like 'these are people, too' it will make a difference."

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