Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

Joanna Brooks

“Religion Dispatches” Describes Mormon Involvement in Prop 8
LDS Church Sought to Create “Plausible Deniability”

February 2010

The close relationship between the Mormon Church and the Yes on 8 campaign was recently revisited in the trial challenging the legality of California’s Proposition 8 and is the focus of a Religion Dispatches article by Mormon author Joanna Brooks.

“On Wednesday, January 20, in a federal courthouse in San Francisco, plaintiffs in the Perry vs. Schwarzenegger trial introduced two documents (over strenuous objections from the defense) indicating close but cautious coordination between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Yes on 8 campaign.”

According to plaintiffs’ witness Gary Segura, the documents indicate that the Mormon Church intended to create “plausible deniability or respectable distance between the church organization per se and the actual campaign.”

Brooks writes that Mormons raised between 50% and 75% of the Yes on 8 funds, and provided as much as 80-90% of the volunteer labor for the campaign, though they were coached to avoid disclosing their ties to the LDS Church while canvassing.

“When we went to our training meetings, they said, don’t bring up the fact that you’re Mormon,” recalls Laura Compton, of Mormons for Marriage. “Don’t wear white shirts and ties; don’t look like missionaries. When you go out [canvassing], bring a non-member friend. When you’re calling people, don’t say I’m a Mormon.”

Brooks also describes the role of the document “Six Consequences if Prop 8 Fails,” which was emailed massively among Mormons and utilized as part of the campaign. “The document alleged that the legalization of same-sex marriage would eventuate in the teaching of same-sex marriage in public schools and the elimination of religious freedoms,” writes Brooks. “Mormon legal scholar Morris Thurston described this as ‘untrue’ and ‘misleading’ and urged the LDS Church to discontinue its further dissemination.”

Posted on January 31, Brooks’s piece is the most read article on the Religion Dispatches website and has generated nearly 100 comments.