Anti-Gay LDS Activities     

HAWAII
In 1998 the LDS (Mormon) church donated $600,000 dollars to Save Traditional Marriage '98, the organization heading a campaign there to amend the constitution so that it would give the legislature the right to pass a law to limit marriage to just couples that consist of one man and one woman. In October of 1998, one month before the Hawaii ballot measure was voted on, Save Traditional Marriage '98 reported having received contributions totaling $845,224, which means that about ¾ of the funds had been donated by the Mormon church. The LDS Church has approximately 50,000 members in Hawaii, less than 4% of the population.

The Catholic church, which has 230,000 members in Hawaii (about 20% of the population) donated just $12,000 to the same campaign.

The main organizers of (and the co-chairs of) Save Traditional Marriage '98 were several Mormons, Jack Hoag, Debi Hartman and Jack Shea; plus one Roman Catholic, Father Marc Alexander.

ALASKA
In 1998 the church donated $500,000 to the campaign for Ballot Measure 2, an amendment to the Alaska constitution that banned the recognition of same-sex marriages in that state. There are just 24,000 members of the Mormon church in Alaska, less than 4% of the population, yet they provided about 80% of the funds for the Alaska ballot measure, basically bankrolling it. Before the LDS Church sent its half-million-dollar check, the two sides of the Alaska campaign had raised the same amount of money, about $100,000. No other church donated any significant amount to the Alaska campaign.

CALIFORNIA 1999
Now the church is putting it's weight and money into the battle over a California ballot issue that is being called the Knight Initiative. The initiative, which proponents say is meant to 'protect traditional marriage', will be on the ballot on March 7, 2000. The measure is, of course, actually meant to keep same-sex couples from having the right to legally marry - to keep same-sex couples from having the rights and benefits that heterosexual couples automatically obtain when they marry.

MAY— On May 13 and 14, reports came in via email that a letter about the same-sex marriage issue was being read in all California wards and branches. Copies of the letter were even distributed that same week via email. Several weeks went by and no one in the media picked up the story, so we figured the news wasn't going to get out. In its June issue, Frontiers, a GLBT publication, printed a story about the letter. On July 4, the San Francisco Examiner did a piece on it. Within days, most of the Utah and California media had finally carried the story. (six weeks after we had heard about it)

JULY— During the first week of July, reports started coming in that bishops and stake presidents in California were doing direct fundraising among members of the church for the Knight Initiative. The press has yet to do stories on that fundraising by church leaders, but the reports have come in from multiple sources in at least three areas of California: San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. A bishop and a stake president have even reportedly confirmed the reports about organized fundraising by area leaders among members of the church.

The reports are saying that bishops and stake presidents have even been given 'assessments' - assigned amounts they are expected to raise for the ballot measure fight. One bishop in San Diego reportedly sent out a letter to ward members saying each family was expected to give about $250 to the cause. Another bishop reportedly told some ward members he was supposed to raise $8000.

In a July 25 AP article, Bills, a church leader denied that letters were being sent, claiming that "Bishops and stake leaders read a church letter to the 740,000 California members in congregations, but the church did not mail letters to each member as some news reports have suggested."

Leon, an Affirmation member shared in a follow up letter his thoughts: "I guess my temple recommend holding mother here in Hayward California Stake of Zion would be lying when she told me about the letter she received from her Stake President accessing her a 'donation' to the cause. Or is a letter from the SP not a letter from the 'Church.' Sounds like Clinton-esque linguistic dodging to me."

One report said a member called his stake president to ask him if it was true about them being expected to ask members for donations for the ballot measure, and about them being 'assessed' amounts to raise. The stake president said he hadn't heard anything about it, so the reports must be false. A few days later that stake president reportedly called the member back and said he had to change his answer because he had received a letter telling him how much his 'assessment' was.

LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGNS STARTS - IN UTAH
When some gay and gay-friendly Mormons heard about the May letter and about the reports of direct fundraising efforts in support of the California initiative, they decided they had to do something concrete to let the church know how angry they are. Several Salt Lake area Mormons and former Mormons were discussed the situation and their feelings about it on July 7 (during their breaks at a local Postal Service facility). One of them had already started writing a letter to the church to get his name off the records. Two others had been up late the night before talking about doing the same thing. Another said He'd been thinking about doing that since mid June. The group decided they should "do it!"

If four of them felt that way, there had to be quite a few other people who did, too. They sent out email messages about their letter-writing plan and asked if there were other church members out there who felt the same way and wanted to join them in writing letters to the church. In just 13 days, sixty-five people wrote back saying they, too, wanted to send messages to the church by asking to get their names off the membership rolls.

Kathy Worthington of Salt Lake, a gay activist and former Mormon, volunteered to coordinate the effort and has been willing to answer questions from people interested in writing letters. She has instructions and a sample letter that she sends out to members of the church who inquire about how to be a part of the campaign. She has been collecting letters and copies of them and will periodically let the press and the public know how many people she knows of that have 'resigned' from the church due to it's support of anti-gay ballot measures and laws. As of July 22, Worthington has copies of nearly 30 letters that have been mailed to church headquarters. She has a few original letters that she still needs to mail.

CATHOLICS TOO

Worthington is also now collecting letters from unhappy Catholics. She heard from Catholics who felt left out of the campaign, so she wrote up instructions and a sample letter for them, too. She has heard from about 15 Catholics who say they are going to write letters.

PRESS CONFERENCE
On Friday July 23, Worthington and three of the letter writers held a press conference at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah. About ten other letter writers were at the press conference, but did not talk to the press. Copies of 46 letters from people wanting their names removed from church records were available for the press to view.

Send comments and questions to: Kathy Worthington.