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By Lisa Neff for 365 Gay News:
My family comes from a place in western Illinois where great efforts have been made to remedy the persecution of a group of people.
My dad grew up on a farm in Ferris, Ill., not far from Nauvoo, a beautiful little town founded by Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints.
The town grew as the Mormon population grew.
And around the town, unease about Mormon lifestyle, political influence and religious beliefs grew to open warfare — homes were destroyed, crops were burned, lives were threatened, leaders were jailed. Eventually the Mormons were forced to abandon their homes in Nauvoo — the largest forced migration in U.S. history, 1,300 miles across the plains to Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
The Illinois Legislature, by resolution, apologized for the forced expulsion of a people in 2004, 159 years after the crimes.
The resolution said the “goodness, patriotism, high-moral conduct and generosity” of the LDS church enriched the landscape of the nation.
Today, I can’t see the goodness, patriotism, high-moral conduct or generosity in a church that has known persecution but continues to persecute a group of people.
The Illinois Legislature’s resolution said “the bias and prejudices of a less enlightened age … caused unmeasurable hardship and trauma for the community of Latter-day Saints by the distrust, violence, and inhospitable actions of a dark time in our past.”
Today, the LDS church is guilty perpetuating bias and prejudices causing unmeasurable hardship and trauma for gays and lesbians.
The church has long funded anti-gay campaigns, especially efforts to legally recognize same-sex unions and establish equal marriage rights in the state.
In 1998 the church invested an estimated $600,000 in the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in Hawaii and $500,000 in Alaska. The investment continued in state after state, as ballot measures to specifically ban same-sex marriage were put to votes. The church played a big role in an anti-gay ballot measure in 2000 in California, and it played a big role in passing Proposition 8 in California earlier this month.
In June, the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent a letter for church leaders in California to read all congregations:
“A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.
“We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.”
And donate they did — providing about 70 percent of the financing behind the Prop. 8 campaign.
The church is savvy at media relations, at disseminating propaganda. Its leaders will have the world believe that the church now is being persecuted for its involvement in Proposition 8. The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints issued a statement as gays and lesbians nationwide demonstrated against the passage of Prop. 8. He wrote, “People of faith have been intimidated for simply exercising their democratic rights. These are not actions that are worthy of the democratic ideals of our nation. The end of a free and fair election should not be the beginning of a hostile response in America.”
Of course vandalizing a church is wrong and violence against people is wrong.
But challenging the church is right, entirely just and necessary.
I think we can start with calling for a federal investigation into how a church with a tax-exempt status can be so heavily involved in a political campaign — how can that make for a free and fair election?
And I think, too, we must make sure we do our best not to drop even a penny into the accounts of people or institutions that will use that money to rob gays and lesbians of their equal rights and delegitimize their families. Planning a winter ski break on a Utah summit a summer excursion through hiking Utah canyons? Reconsider.
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