8: The Mormon Proposition

I saw this film at a screening in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2010. Admittedly, I am LDS and I identify as a gay man. Obviously, this is a movie that I wanted to see because I had these two elements of my life fighting with each other, both in private (in my own mind) and in public (LDS Church vs. the anti-Proposition 8 movement). First of all, the movie definitely has an agenda. However, the title does not lie; sometimes the truth hurts. Being involved in both of these communities fairly actively, I can tell you that this movie brings the truth about Proposition 8 to light. Where the film crosses the line is in its sometimes sensationalistic portrayal, in how the facts are presented to the audience. The truth is presented, but not in the best way or method. Reed Cowan (director) did try to interview LDS Church officials and spokespeople, but his requests were either denied or ignored. Can people really blame him for this? Criticisms of his film being "too biased" are without knowledge of this fact. A lot has to be said for the documents from the 1990's proving that the anti-gay marriage group in Hawaii was created, staffed, and funded through Mormon means. It may all have been done legally, but that doesn't mean that it was right or moral. A lot of criticism of the film points to the "picking-and-choosing" of which phrases from these documents were highlighted on screen and pointed out to the viewer. This is easily remedied: to see the documents, simply go to "Mormon Gate dot com" and read them. The documents speak for themselves.

8:THE MORMON PROPOSITION provides a blue print as to how Big Money in one state orchestrated the outcome of a propositional ballot in two other states. Out of state Mormon influence and money flooded two state campaigns, Hawaii and California, and managed to sway the election to their political and religious agenda. This film emphatically demonstrates how this type of foreign influence strikes at the heart of the American democratic process. Regardless of your personal beliefs on the Gay Rights Issue, this film is really more about how our system of elections can be subverted by deceptively diabolical political marketing practices. Clearly, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is acting as a political action committee, and this form of ethical extortion by a rich and powerful tax exempt organization needs to be stopped. Supreme Court, where are you?

8: The Mormon Proposition is not an excellent be-all-end-all look at the saga of the passing of Proposition 8 (what ended same-sex marriage) in California. The direction of the film isn't always in the most... I won't say professional, but that the filmmakers don't use the budget to the best of their abilities. There is music that sounds grafted on from a poor-man's synthesizer, and some of the editing and visual effects is done for lessor effect. On this count only is the previous poster on IMDb correct.

But the film is about something important- or maybe many things crammed into 80 minutes (this, too, is something of a flaw, but not a major one)- which is that the rights of people were taken away from them because a largely select group (over 70% of funds donated to get Prop 8 passed were from Mormons or groups affiliated with them somehow) see that gays and lesbians don't choose to be gay, and are unholy and so on and so on. That or, of course, the 'sanctity' of marriage and how that affects their beliefs. It should be more complex, but in reality it just comes down to money, and an effective (hateful) ad campaign.

Contrary to what the previous poster said, I don't think the film actively sets out to paint all Mormons as hateful, or that the film itself is hateful. The filmmakers basically let the interviewees and the subject matter speak for itself. I don't even think, after seeing the film, that every single Mormon out there is bad or intends harm. But the organization itself, clearly, is corrupted by its top brass, who definitely feel the need to base their belief structure based on the old axiom "God Told Me So", specifically their 'direct line' to the Holy Lord. That this was such a passionate deal to have so much money funneled into the campaign is an insult to the masses of people who just want to marry, for love or (in other cases) for the same protections and rights that marriage affords.

Again, sometimes the documentary can go off a little from its primary subject, albeit for not all ill-intentions or bad results. There's a large chunk of the film, for example, that delves into the suicide rate of Mormons, and the horror for someone who is Gay and a Mormon (specifically a few are interviewed whose parents donated for Prop 8), and those who are homeless or on the streets as teens who are gay and rejected from their homes. This ultimately worked for me because the film is as much about the people and the high emotions running through the issue for all involved (those who are reasonable about it and those who are, well, Senator Buttars and his foaming-at-the-mouth ilk), but the film definitely works best when it tells this story of Prop 8. How did it get passed and what was the outcome.

Frightening documentary on how the Mormons got Proposition 8 (making same-sex marriages illegal) passed. It shows a church secretly getting out the message to all Mormons that gays and lesbians are evil and don't deserve to be married. It covers this with interviews with people involved in the battle and shows how much Mormons hate gays and lesbians. Also they interview a happily married gay couple. Their love for each other comes flying through...and also their sadness when Prop. 8 was passed. Seeing these two men fighting back tears while explaining how the proposition almost destroyed them was heart-wrenching. I broke down crying (and quite a few of the other people in the theatre lost it too). It also made me furious showing how these monsters got their hateful agenda passed. In a way this WAS uplifting too. We now KNOW how they did it--and will make sure it never happens. Powerful and moving.

Hey, did you hear the good news? Jesus Christ did in fact return to life and was here in these very United States! Also, this guy, Joseph Smith said he found some tablets in the forest or something like that, but nobody ever actually saw them other than Mr. Smith, and now he can have as many wives as he wants! Oh, you didn't hear this? Well, then you're either a logical human being or, more likely, simply not a member of the Mormon church.

So God said that one guy making out with another guy is wrong, so it HAS to be an absolute truth, right? Well, in that case once my daughter hits a certain age I'll be sure to pimp her out, that is if she doesn't mouth off to me and I stone her to death, two things that are promoted in the Bible as God's word; and lets not forget that wonderful concept of man's domination of all on earth leading to such marvelous things as species extinction and global warming (but that's just made up, right? Sort of like an all powerful being; IRONY ALERT.) In case you couldn't get the hint, I am an Atheist, have been for about 10 years now. It wasn't particularly hard work to realize that there is, was nor will there ever be a god in any sense. Sure, some of the mythology from some religions are interesting from a purely story telling aspect, loves me some Norse mythology, but to read a book and take every word written as factual truth is just beyond ridiculous and, obviously, dangerous to the rights of human beings.

Watching the documentary, and seeing the Morons, I'm sorry, Mormons go from door to door surveying people one can't help but recall the treacherous and manipulative methods of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1900s; they would go from door to door and ask people vague questions; do you love your country? do you love god? do you love your children? etc, etc. Well if you do, SIGN THIS AND JOIN OUR CLUB! and, unfortunately, a ton of people fell for this scheme. It's all about misinformation and fear, really; control the fearful and you have power absolute. Tell them that their children are in grave danger if a man is allowed to marry a man and, unfortunately, 8 times out of 10 they'll vote for whatever you're pushing. This idea that if homosexual couples are allowed to marry will bring about the demise of the United States and all it stands for, you know...the whole every man born equal thing, is so unbelievably absurd that it's making Camus role over in his grave.

I'm not a Stalinist Atheist. I don't feel that if you eliminate religion from the world it would make it a better place (I don't have enough faith in the human condition to be so naive.), you can believe whatever you want, you can preach whatever you feel to be your seriously hilarious truth (like not allowing blacks into your religion until 1978) but once you take your beliefs and use them to manipulate the public into voting for something that is in your best interest then you're a problem through and through. Really, though, it's, again, all a matter of controlling the fearful. I believe in an afterlife because I'm scared to death of...well, death; what happens after we die? Oh, nothing? Total darkness and no more? Well, that's too bleak, so I'll just believe that when I die I'll get all the tang I could ever want; hell, I'll even become a GOD after I die, but in order to get to this point that somebody made up 100 or so years ago I have to be a slave to a group of megalomaniacs.

Seriously? The documentary didn't tell me anything I didn't already know from reading noted science fiction author Orson Scott Card's appalling essay railing against homosexual rights; the fact that these people think that sexuality is a choice that can be reversed just goes to show how intensely they're living in their own little worlds, if this is the case, if something born into a human being is actually a choice....well, in that case you better start rounding up the blind, the deaf, the autistic and, gosh golly, why not the horizontally impaired? Yes, the Mormon church, proponents of eugenics: fantastic.

Oh well, no matter if the church was involved or not the people of California VOTED for the proposition to be put into play; yeah, and Hitler was elected in a democratic system.