Anti-Mormon Gay Protests [commentary]

Now, I'm going to keep this entry (relatively) short and sweet.

I am gay, yes. And I want to have the right to be married, yes. But do I advocate protesting in front of Mormon churches because the LDS church decided to fund "Yes on Prop. 8" campaigns?

No.

I think this is an error on the part of gay people (and even Whoopi Goldberg, who was awesome enough to come out and support her gay compatriots). We should not be protesting the LDS church- they have every right to be supporting what they believe in. It isn't necessarily the fault of the LDS church that Prop 8 was passed. They have a first amendment right to speak out about what they believe. Unfortunately in this case it is keeping marriage an institution between a man and a woman. But they still have the right to support that view as they see fit.

A better course of action would be focusing energy and money on reaching out to the community. We need visibility. It needs to be shown that gay people come in all shapes, sizes, and religions. This is a situation similar to ones that took place directly after Prop 8's passing- many people blamed the fact that the proposition passed on a majority of African-American votes. What can you do? Advocate to the community. Do PSA's. Speak to people. Some people cannot be persuaded, and I honestly think that the upper eschelons of LDS church society are set in their ways- yelling gay people outside their building only makes them feel vindicated in keeping a holy sacrament from screaming heathens. Leave the hard-ass churches alone and focus on making alliances in other places- large businesses, lobbyists, and more accepting denominations.

We need to focus our energy on reaching out, not pointing fingers.