Anti-Gay LDS Activities     

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno called on local and state legal officials yesterday to investigate ending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' tax-exempt status because of a letter it sent its members telling them to support a California initiative banning gay marriages. Leno, a gay man who is a leading critic of the so-called Knight Initiative on the state's March 2000 ballot, said the Mormon hierarchy's letter was "a gross abuse of their tax-exempt status.''

The letter was sent out several weeks ago to about 740,000 California Mormons by three high-ranking church officials in the state, with the approval of church headquarters in Salt Lake City.

The letter told members to contribute their time and money to helping pass the measure proposed by state Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale. The Protection of Marriage Initiative states simply that "only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.'' Gay or lesbian marriages are not legally recognized in the state now, but passage of the proposed initiative would mean that it would take action by voters in the future to make such marriages legal.

"It's pretty outrageous,'' Leno said of the church's letter. "The Internal Revenue Service might weigh in on this.''

The Mormons have helped pass anti-gay marriage initiatives in Alaska and Hawaii, donating $1.1 million in the process. In California, the church is repeating that action.

"This is an out-of-state religious organization weighing in on a political issue here, and it should be investigated,'' said Leno.

He asked City Attorney Louise Renne and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to look into the issue.

Leno compared the situation to the recent IRS decision not to grant tax-exempt status to the Christian Coalition, a group that printed and distributed millions of voter guides supporting candidates who back its conservative agenda.

Repeated calls to Mormon headquarters in Salt Lake City were not returned yesterday.

But Rob Stutzman, campaign manager for the Knight Initiative, said his campaign already has enlisted the support of many religious organizations besides the Mormons, including Muslims, Christians and the California Conference of Catholic Bishops. He said he was hoping for Orthodox Jewish support as well.

He also said that the Mormons' position is not comparable to that of the Christian Coalition.

"It sounds like (Leno) is trying to make hay out of an issue he doesn't understand,'' Stutzman said.

The IRS has traditionally ruled that tax-exempt organizations cannot engage in substantial levels of political activity without endangering their status. In general, the federal agency has ruled this means organizations cannot support political parties or candidates.

The Christian Coalition backed mainly Republicans and gave its supporters positions on a variety of candidates for different offices.

What is more, Stutzman said, the giant Mormon Church's donations to the Knight Initiative campaign would involve only a tiny bit of its revenues, and thus would not pass the threshold of another test --that a substantial part of a group's revenue go for politics before its status is in doubt.

Mike Marshall, campaign manager of Californians for Fairness, the group working against the Knight Initiative, supported Leno's call.

"The Mormon elders want to be major players in the campaign. Doesn't that question whether you should have everything tax-deductible?'' said Marshall.