Adorable historian grandmother Dr. Jan Shipps is the first non-Mormon to ever be President of the Mormon History Association. She also thinks that the Mormon Church has set itself back decades through a "perfect storm" of Mitt Romney antics, polygamist busts in Texas and the backlash from church involvement in Prop. 8.

"By talking to the Latter Day Saints outside of California [and encouraging them to work and donate to the campaign], that could come back to haunt them", says Shipps, who like all sweet old ladies, hangs out on park benches all day, dispensing wisdom to whatever television reporter happens to wander along. She adds, "It will take many many many months, maybe years to get this division healed." She then offered the reporter some freshly made oatmeal cookies.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working with Avenue Q co-writer Robert Lopez to bring all your terrifying Mormon stereotypes to the boards of Broadway in their new musical, Mormon Musical, which will star the ubiquitous Cheyenne Jackson, who you know from Xanadu, YouTube and every gay party camera wall in the city. Jackson says of the show:

"It's hilarious - very acerbic and biting. It offends everybody but does what 'South Park' does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say…I play the main missionary, Elder something."

The show starts rehearsals next month, so you can probably expect funny undergraments, baptism for the dead, repressed polygamy and sexual confused missionaries sometime in early '09. If you're hoping for non-stop Mormon bashing set to song, you might want to wait for the reviews frist, Parker and Stone's reputation are built on skewering everybody equally, so you may find yourself a target, too. Then again, their very first musical forray was called Cannibal!

Pat Bagley, the editorial cartoonist of The Salt Lake Tribune reminds us that Utah isn't just full of crazy, intolerant religious fanatics– and also manages to be funny about an issue that has everybody very, very upset. It sure beats Snagglepuss, at least. There's a Mormon-related 'toon by Bagley after the jump.

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It's not just gays who read Queerty. We've been noticing that many many Prop. 8 supporters have been commenting on the site this week about how horrible and viscious it is that gay people are protesting and boycotting them. We're not alone, The Mercury News notes that you're calling this week's actions "mob justice" and "McCarthyism". First off, thanks for your comments– it shows you're willing to engage in a discussion, even if sometimes "discussion" seems more like "angry rant".

Anyway, this post is for you.

Here's why your "Gays are the intolerant ones!" rant is totally misguided and wrong. Rod Dreher, a conservative columnist over at Belief Net, does a pretty good job of condensing all the Yes on 8 talking points, so let's take a look at what he says:

What if traditional Christians, Jews and Muslims got the list of Californians who donated to the anti-Prop 8 campaign, and began to boycott businesses where they worked on the grounds that these people gave money to a cause that would take away a substantial part of their freedom of religion?

Would that be okay? If not, why not?

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UPDATED: Scott Freitag, a spokesperson from the Church of LDS says that the Mormon Temple in L.A. that was the site of Prop. 8 protests last week has been closed after an envelope filled with "an unknown white substance" was delivered on Thursday.

The clerk opening the envelope spilled powder on his hands and found a letter, which Freitag said did not contain any threatening writing. He also said that the church had not received any calls or threats before the package arrived and that the clerk shows no sign of illness or injury. A similar package arrived at the Salt Lake City Temple. The L.A. Temple was closed voluntarily and employees evacuated as a safety measure.

Hazmat, the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department arrived on the scene and the FBI is investigating the incident.  After testing, the substance was found to be harmless.

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Micah, over at Shut Up I Know! has a developing report on the impromptu press conference El Coyote held this afternoon after it was revealed via the L.A. Times' vexing Prop 8. contributions database that their manager, Marjorie Chrisoffersen donated $100 to the Yes on 8 Campaign. The El Coyote, for those not in the know, is an L.A. late-night institution famous as a hangout for gays, rockers, and once upon a time, Sharon Tate, which is one of the reasons the donation has not gone over well.

The press conference did not go well.

"While the floor manager continued talking, it became more obvious that what this community conference was about, was distancing Marjorie from El Coyote itself.

Marjorie walked out with (her two daughters?) on arm and spoke from a prepared statement. This prepared statement was IDENTICAL to the email she send out and that is posted in the comments of the previous posting…which REALLY didn't make people happy.

At all.

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The MSM finally picked up on a story about a Church of Latter Day Saints memo that Kos ran last week. The 1997 document from then LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley details the church's strategy for defeating same-sex marriage, which stresses including the Catholic Church in the fight. The memo looked at the Hawaii civil union decision and uses it to survey the California political landscape. After determining that in California:

"Anti-H.L.M. (presumably "homosexual legal marriage") legislation through both Houses of the California Legislature appears virtually impossible at the preent.  There is a consensus that referendum is the only route. While expensive, there are at least two coalitions coming together with one of them showing promise as to raising money.

Richard Wirthlin has run a survey which shows public support for our position in the mid-fifty percentile. As in Hawaii, his survey shows that the public image of the Catholic Church higher than our Church. In other words, if we get into this, they are the ones with which to join."

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (their style guide prefers you call them that) is shocked-SHOCKED that the gay community is holding them accountable for the passage of Proposition 8. "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", a statement from the Church reads. And truth be told, the gay community is singling out the church, which contributed an estimated 70% of the money for the Yes on 8 campaign. Queerty breaks down the talking points you'll be hearing up until the moment jihad breaks out somewhere near St. George, Utah.

"Mormons bought Prop. 8 with their Mormon gold": Well, yes Virginia, they did. There's a reason that Prop. 8 was the costliest election battle in the nation this year, save for that whole Presidential thing–and that reason comes from Salt Lake. The church sent letters to members, held video conferences and called from volunteers from the pulpit to help pass Prop. 8. That still doesn't make the website Mormons for 8, which has downloadable spreadsheets listing all Mormon Yes on 8 donors, any less creepy.

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Californian queers are still burning up over this week's passage of Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage in the Golden State.

In addition to Wednesday's protests, die-hard activists are now turning their attention on the Church of Latter-day Saints, which played a pivotal role in rallying their troops behind the discriminatory ballot measure.

Crowds of gays gathered yesterday outside a Mormon temple in Westwood, California, where they brandished signs decrying the group's anti-gay lobbying. Then, as the sun went down, about 3,000 people flooded into the street and tangling traffic. Though the action was mostly peaceful, there were three arrests, according to the Associated Press.

In addition to these protests - and three lawsuits - gay marriage activists are also hoping to hit the Mormon church where it hurts: they've launched a petition to strip the group of their tax-exempt status. That status stipulates that religious groups not use their organization and power for political purposes.

To restore the right stolen from us, we must correct the amendment to California's constitution. To do this requires another statewide proposition. Yet how will we avoid another election season of deception, when the Mormon Church can pour limitless, tax-free money into advancing their platform?
…
In this country, you can be a church. You can be a political action committee. You cannot be both. The Mormon Church stands in direct defiance of the spirit of our laws by actively campaigning to change California law.

You can be sure California hasn't heard the last of these cries - in fact, there are scores of protests planned for this weekend. We gays are tenacious - as we should be!

Thanks to reader Marco for these pictures!