It should come as no surprise that there is a vocal section of people speaking out against the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  Many protests have focused around Mormon temples due to the fact that protestors feel that the LDS Church had a disproportionate level of involvement in the pro Prop. 8 debate. 

What I find interesting, however, is how the LDS Church has chosen to react to these debates, at least on a formal level. The four-paragraph press release distributed on November 7th is as follows:

It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election. 

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting. 

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process. 

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

In other words the Church feels that it has been unfairly singled out by protesters. Now I am not here to discuss if this is fair or not, simply why I feel that this is happening.

In my mind there are two principal reasons people continue to march in defense of homosexual rights around LDS places of high worship: 1) This is the first time in recent memory that the LDS Church has been involved in national politics, and the Church over-reached; and 2) the LDS Church is still viewed as a religious cult in most parts of the nation. Allow me to explain.

It is difficult to argue that the Mormon Church is not used to getting its way when it comes to state and local government.  Though it is very rare for the LDS Church to come right out for or against any particular issue, we all know that Utah law is infused with the influence of the Church. The reasons for this are many and varied and not worth discussion at this time; all that matters is that the Church, for better or for worse, is used to getting its way politically.  

Usually opposition to LDS influence is an in house matter, gaining little or no attention outside of the so-called Mormon Belt.  What made this instance different is that the Church left this comfort zone and met a level of resistance it is simply not used to.

So why the focus on the LDS Church and not other religions? Simple, the rest of the nation already knows what the Catholic, Southern Baptist, and other various holly roller churches are going to do.  We know they are against gay marriage and protests would be taking place amongst their own believers if these various churches came out in favor of marriage. 

The Mormon Church is different because, on the whole, people know little or nothing about the LDS faith.  It is estimated that less than two percent of the nation is Mormon, equating to around 5 million members.  Furthermore, the Church estimates that 1.8 million (or nearly 40 percent) of Mormons live in Utah.  People outside of Utah “know” only a few things about Mormons – they have multiple wives, they have horns, they don’t drink coffee or beer, and Donnie and Marie are from there. Up until this point people really did not “know” that they hated the gays.

By introducing this new “fact” to the nation, the LDS Church either did not know or did not care about the blowback that would occur. Furthermore, on a national level the LDS Church is a safe target.  In Utah you go up against the Church at your own peril, outside of the Beehive State the Church is a soft target that is not going to raise many eyebrows (as opposed to going against the Southern Baptists or the Catholic Church).  Simply put, on a national scale, Mormons are viewed as strange and foreign, and it is not as politically compromising to go up against them. 

I think the LDS Church is learning the hard way that it bit off a little more than it could chew.  By entering the public sphere in such an open way, they have opened themselves up to these types of protests. One thing about the teeming masses is that they often go after the perceived target, whether they are correct or not in their assessment. The moment the Church stuck out its head, it should have had a contingency plan for protests such as these.  

Finally, as a matter of disclosure, I did participate in the November 7th protest that took place in Salt Lake.  I have expressed in the past that I feel the Church over-steeped its bounds, especially in regards to its tax exempt status, and felt that attending the protest would be a good way to show both my support of the homosexual community and my displeasure