The film “8: The Mormon Proposition” premiered at Sundance yesterday, showing how the LDS church funded Prop 8 and took away the right to marry in California. The Utah church also spent $1 million to ban same sex marriage in Alaska, and pushed similar bans in other states.
8:TMP follows the stories of many LGBT citizens seeking marriage equality and never-before revealed Mormon efforts to stop them… [Fred] Karger, a gay Californian, was given secret memos and documents from inside the Mormon Church as he investigated the tens of millions of dollars funneled into California to fight gay marriage. The memos reveal for the first time that Mormons used front groups to achieve their goals against LGBT legislation, with a battle plan beginning in Hawaii.
The Mormons bankrolled a gay marriage ban in Hawaii in 1998, the same year they funded the Alaska marriage ban. (On Friday, the Hawaii senate passed a civil unions bill by a veto-proof majority, and the house is expected to pass it as well.)
The current Prop 8 trial in San Fransicso exposed more documents proving the Mormon role in pushing the ban, including church leaders working for the political campaign, sending fundraising letters to members, and calling for door to door teams to advocate for Prop 8.
The open promotion of anti-gay political issues by the LDS and other churches has focused attention on the tax exempt status of religious organizations. A Canadian church that was heavily involved in anti-gay political measures had its tax exempt status revoked last week.
The very real consequences of DADT repeal; seeking survivor benefits for same-sex partner of Alaska shooting victim; waiting on SCOTUS decision about whether it will hear Prop 8 case; and other recent LGBTQ news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.
In this month’s “Ask Lambda Legal” column, Lambda Legal answers a question about the federal government’s longstanding ban against donations of blood from men who have sex with men (MSM).
Alaska Pride Conference 2012 kicks off on October 5 with a First Friday showing at Tref.Punkt Studio of Love is Love, a photographic exhibit of LGBT couples from across the state.
United for marriage: Light the way to justice. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26–27, in two cases about freedom to marry. Please join us on Tuesday, March 26, at the federal courthouse in Anchorage (7th & C) in a circle united for equality.
Pariah, a critically acclaimed film about a 17-year-old African-American woman embracing her lesbian identity, will screen at UAA on Friday, November 2, and will be followed by a discussion on acceptance in honor of Mya Dale. The event is free and open to the public.