By Dave Zirin

x-posted from Edge of Sports with permission.

As supporters of Gay Marriage have discovered, it’s never easy to be on the Mormon Church’s enemies list. The Church of Latter-Day Saints backed the anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 in California with out-of-state funds, and gave the right a heartbreaking victory this past election cycle. But the Mormon Church has been challenged in the past. Just ask Bob Beamon.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family Action, making the claim that Mitt Romney has “acknowledged Mormonism is not a Christian faith.”

Admittedly, I got busy with the holidays and fell behind in my reading at some of my favorite websites. I figured I could bookmark, spend a couple days getting reacquainted with the wife and kids, and then catch up later.

Later was apparently too late:

No longer available? Now that’s disappointing.

Boycott Utah? Absolutely. I still think it’s a no-brainer response to Prop 8′s Mormon-funded passage and something that has to happen.

Granted, some folks will hem and haw, but the reality is that it’s already happening and currently ongoing. And here’s my request to those of you reporting on the boycott: next time you feel the impulse to deliver instant gratification to your readership re how the boycott is faring, please first take a moment to pause and consider what a sad joke it is for professionals like you to expect boycott proponents like me to be available to quantify the impact-to-date after one friggin’ month, given the current national economic situation, and the fact that Utah’s peak ski season hasn’t even started yet, not to mention that every Utah official who you might query will have a vested interest in disavowing any impact.

I have a confession to make: I am a Hillary Clinton fan, and would have loved to have seen her today as the President elect. I’ve grown to be an Obama fan as well, but the Rick Warren controversy caused me to reflect on some feelings and concerns I had back in the primaries.  One was that Barak’s goal of unifying the country might come before and to the detriment of the gay community if it were accomplished by playing to the center.

The author, Sheldon Rampton (center) in a photo from his days as a Mormon missionary.

BY SHELDON RAMPTON

Reprinted with permission from PRWatch.org

I posted a brief item [on PRWatch.org] recently about the PR nightmare facing the Mormon Church as a result of the prominent role it played this year promoting Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage in California. At the urging of church leaders, Mormons spent about $20 million on the effort, which probably provided the margin that enabled the proposition to pass.

Steve Gomez is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and he has done a couple of columns on the situation with El Coyote. The first is an interview with Margie Christoffersen, the El Coyote manager and daughter of the owner of the restaurant.    The second is a summary of the feedback that was sent along with his commentary, and decision to stand by his first article.   Below is a letter that I just sent to him, though I doubt he’ll continue the saga in the Times.

This is a must see video with Gov. Mike Huckabee, talking about gay marriage after the election. Jon Stewart does a fantastic job at destroying his arguments.  I think he could have gone further, except that would just have been sadistic.

BYU NewsNet, the BYU campus newspaper, did a story on December 10th that frankly talks about the energy around Prop 8 on campus before the election. The reporter also reviews the infamous “Six Consequences” document and scratches the surface of the claims, including the top line pro and con arguments against them.  

THE ADVOCATE ASKS: Does the organizational and fund-raising prowess displayed by the LDS church during California’s Proposition 8 campaign augur future political might?

In june the governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent a letter to every Mormon congregation in California asking that a message be read to members at Sunday services stating that “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God,” and “local church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.” The cause was Proposition 8, and church members were implored to “do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time.”