It just wouldn’t be right to let the Roman Catholic Church be the only anti-gay religious organization embroiled in an underage sex scandal involving its leaders. Enter the Mormon Church, which is now dealing with the fallout from Michael Pratt’s molestation trial. Well done, brothers!
Pratt stands accused of molesting a then-16-year-old girl (she is now 17) on multiple occasions all across the great state of Utah. At the time, Pratt was a LDS seminary principal; the victim was a student.
She spent three hours testifying against Pratt yesterday, detailing how Pratt would have her hide in the back seat of his car to sneak her off school grounds for their liaisons. He even wrong her a love song on his guitar. Adorable!
It’s just too bad the victim wasn’t a boy — then LDS could blame its little sexual assault problem on those pedophilia-loving homos.
Now, we’re not saying all Mormons act like this — far from it. But this holier-than-thou bullshit –where LDS leaders claim they lead pious lives while the gays are undeserving of equality — is all the more ridiculous when Mormons show their gross human imperfections. We’re sure god still loves Pratt; he just loves the gays more.
But it does beg the question for church elder Bruce Hafen: If gay isn’t in your DNA, certainly preying on minors isn’t too, right?
(Thanks, Alan!)
AlanInUtah
Your welcome for the tip. 🙂
alan brickman
he’s kind of attractive…..
Bertie
but he didn’t do things with an adolescent boy — so they must still feel superior, huh? Mormon Scumbags
Robert, NYC
Actually, most states allow underage children to marry provided its with parental consent. In New Hampshire, a 13 y/o girl can marry while its 14 for boy. Tell me that’s not state sanctioned pedophilia, marriage or not. Pedophilia is nothing more than a red herring used by the right wing cultists to agitate against our equality. We need to bring up age factor when these hatemongers start trying to drive a wedge on this issue. This IS pedophilia and marriage legalizes it in these cases.
rodney
How can you blame the entire Mormon Church for the actions of 1 man? Honestly. Should society blame homosexuals for the actions of Frank Lombard?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/30/duke.molestation.internet/
I can assure you that the LDS Church will excommunicate Pratt if they haven’t already and recommend that he’s punished to the fullest extent of the law. The LDS Church does not protect sex offenders. The LDS Church required at least two adults with children at all times as a protection. The LDS Church members aren’t perfect and trying to paint all Mormons by the actions of this one perp is only hurting your own cause.
So AlaninUtah, besides scoring brownie points with Queerty writers, how many boys do you molest in a day? Obviously you’re gay so that means you molest children just like Frank Lombard does.
Honestly…
As a side note. In my personal life I had a 16 year old expose himself to me after telling me all sorts of explicit details of sex when I was 7 years old. This 16 year old is now an open homosexual.
When I was 12 years old I had a 17 year old neighbor masturbate in front of me several times(among other disgusting acts including exposing me to hard core pornography) and guess what? He also grew up to be a homosexual.
You’d think a guy like me would think all homosexuals are child molesters after what I went through personally, but I have the common sense not to accuse all homosexuals of the actions of two homosexuals. Obviously Queerty doesn’t have the same common sense.
Robert, NYC
Rodney, you just don’t get it do you? The Mormon cult along with the rest, the Roman cult in particular paint LGBT with the same brush and actually this cult equates pedophilia with a gay orientation. In reality, pedophilia is gender neutral. The vast majority of pedophile crimes are against the opposite sex if you go into government sex crime statistics. What do you hear from all of these right wing cultist naysayers against marriage equality…”oh…next they’ll be marrying their brothers, sisters, parents” and it will “open the door for polygamy”. The mormons know a thing or two about polygamy now don’t they even though it was abolished in the 19th century. Nobody was blaming gays for that though as they do now.
Also, to split hairs…most states in this country support straight pedophilia when they allow underage children to marry (with parental consent), so the parents are also complicit. Marriage or not, it is still pedophilia, no matter how you skew it. Most states allow children under 18 to marry so tell me that’s not state sanctioned pedophilia, as if that’s not a threat to marriage?
GeoffM
Uhmm…hello! God probably told him to, so it’s okay by them. (Those personal revelations from the Almighty tend to carry a lot of weight and offer a great copout for the LDS)
AlanInUtah
@ No. 5 · rodney:
Sounds like someone needs to take the stick out of their ass and breathe a bit.
Your comment makes no sense. Just because I posted that I was who told Queerty about this story does not imply ANYTHING about me or my opinion of this story. All it says is that I felt that Queerty would get something from it and that they didn’t feel the need to recognize where the suggestion came from.
How that makes me a child molester is beyond me? Would you please clarify for me exactly how to connect those dots?
rodney
AlaninUtah.
The actions of Frank Lombard make you a child molester. Just like the actions of Pratt make all Mormons (and Catholics apparently) child molestors.
Pratt is a pedophile = All Mormons are pedophiles
Lombard is a Pedophile = All homosexuals are pedophiles
This is one argument I’d think the homosexuals would want to steer clear of because it’s the same accusation that gets thrown at them.
The Mormons Church has every right to vote for and support traditional marriage. The Mormon Church will continue to support and campaign for traditional marriage. All the backlash is doing more good for the Mormons than bad. Never before have Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, Catholics, and others vocally supported the LDS Church until now. The absolute worst thing the homosexuals could do for their cause is push the Mormons into acceptance by Evangelicals. Once the Mormons are generally accepted (it appears that is happening) their worldwide numbers will grow even faster. Think the current 15 million Mormons are bad now….imagine 30 million of them in 5-10 years. Mormons breed like rabbits too. Homosexuals…not so much. Fighting the Mormons is the best thing you could do for their cause. As they say, “any publicity is good publicity”.
Bill
I blame the magical mormon underwear.
AlwaysGay
Rodney <== laughing at you. You are such a liar. Growing up gay, knowing gay people and knowing reality I know how unbelievable your "stories" are. A recently released study showed the AVERAGE age a heterosexual has their first consensual sexual experience is 13 which means the majority of heterosexuals have sex before they are 13. Meanwhile the average age for gay people is 15 and a half. That study proved what I already knew; gay people are careful about sex.
Heterosexual molestation in the mormon community is common and rarely reported. The Utah Attorney General has stated he would not prosecute polygamists. Virtually every other polygamous sect practicing in Utah today has been linked to financial, sexual or spiritual improprieties.
Bill
@ Rodney who says: “How can you blame the entire Mormon Church for the actions of 1 man? Honestly. Should society blame homosexuals for the actions of Frank Lombard?”
Um, Are you KIDDING us, bro?
ALL gay people are judged by the actions of the WORST among us. Not the BEST.
And you KNOW this. So that comment makes you look as if, well, you have nothing to say.
The Mormon church, whatever your affiliation is with it, is nothing but a mind-controlling, evil cult that not only abuses and wishes harm on others, but demands that our government participate in the abuse as well. And whatever your personal thoughts on god and religion, they simply do not trump human rights.
You have made yourself look rather uneducated, Rod. And like a total mormon, um I mean MORON.
AlanInUtah
I understand your argument. It makes some sense. Though its full of fear.
You argue that the attention will only bring more acceptance of the LDS religion from other religions. You should also know that the numbers for active religious individuals is on the decline. So when you say that their membership is increasing, or will be because of the backlash, overall religions are slowly but surely failing to keep the same numbers of active followers that they had 50 years ago or even further back. So it seems that religions are involving themselves in eachothers business and providing support for these causes to try to stay relevant. The involvement is also pushing people away from religions as they are now becoming too included into their lives. So while they are adding members, they are also losing them as well.
Robert, NYC
Bill, I wouldn’t mind betting these right wing shills who seek out gay blogsites are nothing more than deeply closeted, conflicted gay men. If they were that secure in their orientation, they wouldn’t waste their precious time trolling gay sites in the first place. No well adjusted straight man or woman would bother let alone feel threatened by any of us. Speaks volumes. Of course, they’ll deny it outright. They do protest too much!
rodney
Robert NYC… I definitely “get it”.
“this cult equates pedophilia with a gay orientation” I’m assuming ‘cult’ refers to the Mormons? Is it ok if I call you a ‘faggot’ rather than a homosexual also? Nothing like keeping things classy around here.
So where exactly does the LDS Church equate pedophilia with gay orientation? Feel free to browse LDS.org and get back to me on that one.
The vast number of pedophilia cases are against the opposite sex but your stats are skewed because there are far, far, more straights than gays. This claim of yours is highly debatable. Personally I condemn pedophilia in any shape or form. Mormons aren’t using pedophilia accusations as a premise for preserving traditional marriage either as you suggest. This Country belongs to the Mormons as much as is does to the homosexuals. If a free society opinions and ideas are put to a vote. You lost. Demonizing the Mormons will not change the new law and only makes you look like hypocrites. You won’t change my mind either. I sent money to support Prop 8 and if it hits the ballot again I’ll send a lot more.
AlwaysGay
Mormons infest the internet. I realized that during the Prop 8 campaign when mormon adherents would come to my website or watch my videos and write the most hateful things. I would look at my site statistics and see that many people came from mormon populated areas like Utah. Mormon adherents use pedophilia to give heterosexuals excuses/ cover to vote for heterosexual-only marriage amendments. Heterosexuals ALWAYS fallback on sex when trying to undermine gay people. Sex plus gay people equals a lot of bad things to the haterosexual. So even if it has nothing to do with sex the haterosexual will trot out sex and try to connect it to gay people because it will automatically sway other haterosexuals into believing them.
rodney
Bill, I disagree.
“The Mormon church, whatever your affiliation is with it, is nothing but a mind-controlling, evil cult that not only abuses and wishes harm on others, but demands that our government participate in the abuse as well. And whatever your personal thoughts on god and religion, they simply do not trump human rights.”
The Mormon Church is not a “mind controlling, evil cult”. Next time you take a page out of Mike Huckabees playbook you should at least cite the reference.
The Mormon Church does not abuse or with harm on others. The LDS Church preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. The LDS Church has one of the best welfare programs in the world. The LDS Church condemns abuse in all forms. What you don’t understand is that 1.3% of California Mormons and 50.07% of non-Mormon Californians believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. If you want to give 1.3% of the voters 100% of the backlash, that’s your call, but your missing the point.
Harry Reid – Believes in Traditional Marriage
Obama – Believes in Traditional Marriage
Biden – Believes in Traditional Marriage
Why don’t you attack them?
Are you so naive to think that it wasn’t the African American voters that voted for traditional marriage in far, far greater numbers than Mormons? Why not attack them? Why do they get a free pass?
I don’t understand why the Mormons are getting picked on when ultimately they were outspent and counted for a very small fraction of voters (not all Mormons voted for Prop 8, but they probably with they would have now that they see the backlash of you mocking their Church).
Here’s a tip. Go read the book; How to make friends and influence people.
rodney
Always gay. Utah is only about 60% Mormon.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2886596
Nice to use that “big paint brush” though and accuse all Mormons for the actions of a few. Don’t make me ‘Frank Lombard’ you.
Mormons are actually very nice wholesome people, and you have to give them credit for standing up for what they believe in no matter the adversity. Mormons are used to being the underdogs. There has never been a time in history when Mormons have been accepted by society. Homosexuals have always enjoyed more social acceptance than Mormons. You’re complaining about your shoes to the guys who have no feet.
John (still that one from England)
@ Rodney
You’re a sweety! You must sleep well at night, what a NICE guy! You took a huge section of people’s marriage because…..erm?
Okay. No comment.
I’m not even going to go on about how riduculed Mormon’s are everywhere. People are actually being pretty polite to you considering how mental and fabricated your religion is.
How old is it again?
A century or am I being too kind?
reluctantcommenter
pssssh, go read a book? rodney, why don’t you go read some stones in a hat.
rodney
John, Nice touch with the ‘sweety’. I actually sleep white well thanks to my memory foam mattress. I swear by it.
I didn’t take a huge section of people marriages. Remember the stats in Prop 8
52% of California voted for it.
1.3% of California is Mormons (even a smaller percentage are voters)
So who is that other 50.7%??????????????????????
Who are they John, and why are they getting a free pass from you?
Where’s the article on Queerty slamming Blacks? They are the ones that voted for Prop 8. They all went to vote for Obama and saw this little thing called Prop 8 on the ballot. Do you have any idea how Blacks feel about homosexuals in their culture? What about the Muslims in California? Orthodox Jews? What about those damn Jews? Lets attack them too. There are many more Jews and Muslims in California than Mormons. Why Mormons?
..and don’t try and say Mormons sent money because Prop 8 was outspent by several million dollars from OUT OF STATE MONEY!!!!
Face it fellas. You lost…not because of the Mormons, but because California doesn’t want Gay marriage. Remember the vote in 2000 also? You lost. You lost. You lost. All the picking on Mormons in the world will not change that fact. You could kill every Mormon in California and you still would have lost…..but keep blaming the Mormons.
I think it’s quite clear who’s missing the point.
rodney
reluctant commentator. It’s always nice to take a jab at the Mormons any chance you get. It’s fun to bully the guys that don’t hit back by mocking their religion. That always helps move the homosexual movement forward. I’m serious. When you guys steal pages out of Mike Huckabees playbook you need to cite your references.
rodney
Alwaysgay, referring to comment #11.
I don’t care if you believe me or not. It’s nice to see that you’re in denial though that homosexuals actually do molest children on occasion. Do you want names;
Scott Sayer is Homosexual #1
Robert “Bobby” Edwards is Homosexual #2
Look them up and ask them about it yourself if you don’t believe me..
Peter
“This country belongs to Mormons as much as it does to homosexuals”. A true statement, Rodney; but why dont’s you live by it? If you did, you would have nothing to say about us. The Constitution says that we are a nation with a separation of Church and State. This too means that you should have NOTHING to say about us.
Any church’s rules apply to members of that particular church. They have, or should have, absolutely NO bearing on any other group. This is the part of SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE that you do not get.
You are messing with a CIVIL RIGHT, not a religious right. Please think about this a little bit; because when Islam becomes the dominant religion, you too will be up the creek. And another religious war will be on. Just like in Iraq, Pakistan and Iran. A little clear thinking here will do you wonders.
AlanInUtah
Rodney = Mormon = Annoyed by anyone who doesn’t agree with his opinion. Disagree? Read his comments.
Robert, NYC
..”the Roman cult in particular paint LGBT with the same brush and actually this cult equates pedophilia with a gay orientation”.
Rodney, you can’t even read properly, I was referring to the roman cult, idiot. Further, you don’t fool any of us if you think the majority of mormons don’t equate pedophilia in the your sister cult in Rome does. It may not be written down but I’m sure if you had a poll of all mormon cultists, they’d side with Rome.
Another thing, all religions are cults,I don’t make any distinction.
My statement on the majority of straights having a higher proportion of pedophilia is not skewed, pal. Government statistics don’t lie.
We don’t give a fuck if you donate to hate causes. Your scumbag cult along with all the others has no right interfering in equality issues, least of all CIVIL marriage equality that has absolutely NOTHING to do with your fucked up religious cult version of marriage. States issue marriage licenses, not cults.
How about if we start hitting back by getting referenda on every state ballot to remove tax-exempt status of every religious cult that meddles in the political system, for starters? There are a lot of straights who’d get on board with that, believe me.
Sorry, but YOU’RE the loser. We may have lost on Prop. H8 but for every loss there will be two gains. You’re losing the cultural war and evidence of that is why fucktards and halfwits like you troll gay blogsites because you can’t find an audience to vent your sexual frustration, projecting it onto us.
So pour youself a megadose of STFU. Go rent some porn.
Calling me and others “faggots” is hardly what one would ascribe to the word “christian”, you are hardly that. Another thing, Jesus Christ never mentioned let alone condemned gay people. You use that same old lame jewish mantra from Leviticus to justify hate. Read up on http://www.fallwell.com, you’ll see just how psycho talkers like you deliberately cherrypick pick this and that to discriminate. You either believe in all of the scriptures or you don’t, you can’t have it both ways, asshole.
Andrew
Mormons believe and teach that “homosexuality is wrong, sinful and deviant.” That is a bigoted belief. They also fund anti-gay initiatives – they’re contributing to the fight in Maine.
It is fair to identify Mormons and most Christians as the primary source of all LGBT pain and discrimination. They make us “wrong.”
We need to enroll progressive Christians in our fight for equality and marginalize the nutty Mormons and Baptists. Research indicates these conservative Christians are only about 30% of all Christians. They belong in a corner – with their kind – bigots.
Republican
Rodney,
I know you guys basically suppress all sexuality that doesn’t involve marriage, but you do realize that some of your precious children are still screwing, right? I’ve heard quite a few tales from the mouths of missionaries of what they actually did on their missions (including one pretty hot gay tale), so please don’t act like your side is all pure.
I will agree with you on one thing. Most mormons I know are kind, decent, intelligent people, and I think calling the LDS Church a cult is silly, but that doesn’t mean that your position on this issue is correct or worthy of respect. Nor does the fact that mormons were persecuted in days gone by excuse persecuting gays now.
reluctantcommenter
hey. you people bankrolled the campaign that took away the marriage rights of tax-paying, law-abiding citizens of CA. and i made fun of the absurd basis for your religion. i’ll be generous and say we’re even.
just a side note, CA’s black population is less than 7% according to the 2005-2007 ‘american community’ survey by the census bureau. obviously not a major player in the Prop 8 campaign. nevertheless, as a community, black californians did receive a lot of criticism.
Robert, NYC
Peter, don’t waste your time with that scum. They can’t separate civil from religious, its all that inbreeding and incest and probably a byproduct from the descendants of all those polygamous marriages they were so notorious for. Marriage actually is a legal contract and a privilege, not a right since its not addressed in the constitution. The mormom state is among those that allows underage children to marry older people with parental consent making the parents complicit in state sanctioned pedophilia. That alone tells us that straights have the monopoly on it,not us.
Common Sense
yes and most pedifiles are gay as well. What does that mean?
Bill
@ Rodney
If the Mormon Church is a house of god, why do you need to defend it? Your assertion that the Mormon church does not abuse others is simply a bald-faced lie. And you know it.
Whatever your reasoning or argument against or for same-sex marriage, it matters not. It isn’t up for debate and opinion. The law is the law. And religous Heterosexuals are breaking the law by denying 30 million Americans what the Constitution GUARANTEES them.
The United States Constitution GUARANTEES all law-abiding tax-paying citizens EQUALITY under the law.
There IS no ‘other side’ to this issue. The United States of America and it’s Heterosexual Citizens are DENYING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to 30 MILLION of the gay children that HETEROSEXUALS THEMSELVES created.
There IS no reconciliation for that. Simply NONE. Hate gays all you’d like.(I know, I know – you REALLY love us. You just hate our sin. Of love.) But YOU have to live with that hate in your heart, not THEM, Rodney.
But to illegally deny them what is theirs by birthright??? I see MANY, MANY reparation lawsuits when this is finally settled, and I can’t say I would blame them. This country is participating in abuse, discrimination and Apartheid.
That many religious Heterosexuals feel they have carved their gay children out of the Constitution is both vile and speaks VOLUMES about THEIR morality.
Barrack Obama is among the Heterosexual citizens of this country that actively participate in APARTHEID against their gay creations. You will not hear me defend him. Or anyone else participating in this crime.
So, I say to religious Heterosexuals: trying to take the moral high ground on this issue while you commit illegal acts against your gay children and demand that Governmental Apartheid remains in place for your very own gay children makes you look pathetic. I would HIGHLY caution the religious Heterosexuals against making this a moral issue. Because you will lose that battle on every count. You cannot be participating in the abuse, degradation and humiliation of 30 million Americans and then try and take the moral high road, Rodney. It doesn’t work that way. Even if you come up with a constitutional amendment that says it does.
We LOVE you, straight folks. But we REALLY hate YOUR sins. YOUR sins destroy OUR families.
Morality indeed.
ChicagoLIberal
Rodney – The typo above that you “sleep white well” says volumes about that fact that you are a bigot. The Mormons are evil in that they are secretive and hypocrites always crying that they are being persecuted. I was molested by Mormons from 10 to 16. I was forced to disclose in agonizing detail how I masturbated to a lay minister whose hands I never saw during the interview. While at BYU I was forced to work as bait for homosexuals at the Smith Field House pool by the BYU secret police force. You are an asshole and stupid. Mormon populations are declining and the welfare program is all but halted. Keep up. How about we start a Prop 2 here in Illinois to an same sex door to door missionaries for a cash ponzi scheme disguised as tithing, fast offerings, church and missionary funds? My whole family is still in the cult but lately they are beginning to see that they don’t want their offerings paying for hate.
ChicagoLIberal
From the Dictionary:
Cult: a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
Cult = LDS Church
Bill
@ No. 30 · Robert, NYC
In 1967 – Loving vs. Virginia – The Supreme COurt ruled that marriage is, indeed, a fundamental human right.
And so, if marriage is a ‘right’ for straights, it is a ‘right’ for gays.
That is, quite simply, the law.
Peter
Bill—-Thanks a bunch. Wonderful piece.
Justin
@ Rodney,
Prop 8 was a nationwide campaign, and as u well know beings ur obviously a practicing morman ALL mormans were told to donate time or means (money, not that they need more as a healthy percentage of ur income is already given to them) to fulfill their cause. This is public knowledge. Granted only Californians (such as myself) were able to vote on this proposition, most if not all of the funding for the Yes campaign came from you constituants. So if the homosexual community wants to point a finger at mormans as a whole, I dont see how that is unfair nor warrants the type of reaction you are giving. No one person should be responsible for the whole, but it seems the group you identify with tends to lean towards that type of smear campaign. If Prop 8 had been a fair fight with it only being financed within the state of California I strongly feel the outcome would have been different. Fire and Brimstone has always been the word of the Morman so its really no surprise we failed with the demographics we did beings studies have shown how historical oppression can harbor being easily terrified.
Long story short, if you are that self hating I suggest maybe seeking professional counseling or possibly one of the many (mostly unsuccessful) conversion camps that can help you with ur “gay-morman” syndrome because to most you are only being a Nasty Angry Queen.
rodney
Republican, Thank you for having some rational thought. Mormons are not “persecuting gays” Mormons are working to preserve traditional marriage. Is banning smoking in McDonalds persecuting smokers?
AlaninUtah = Gay = Annoyed by anyone who doesn’t agree with his opinion. Disagree? Read his comments.
ReluctantCommentator. The bank rolling comment is a mute point. Mormons funded and voted for traditional marriage. This is a core teaching in their Church. They are just as much allowed to vote and fund their conscience as you are. If you want to be uncivil and tag Mormons with 100% of passing Prop 8 you’re being irrational. Go read the stats again. For every out of state Mormon Dollar there were 2 out of state Gay dollars. Prop 8 came down to votes not money. That’s how elections work. Prop 8 proved that the campaign with the most money doesn’t always win.
Robert in NYC. I think your brain imploded. I can’t even make sense of your vitriol and obscenities. When you can talk like a grown up we’ll let you back at the table.
Chicago. Get me some facts. Web links, stats, anything to back up your outlandish accusations. BTW I’m not even white you fool. Keep bashing the Mormons though. It makes them famous among Religious Americans and Gay marriage is still illegal in California.
Bill, I saved you for last.
How does the Mormon Church “abuse people”? By voting for traditional marriage? give me a break. I’m getting dogpiled on by the commentors here, but none of you even make a legitimate point. You have said nothing that changes the fact that Marriage is still illegal in California thanks to 52% of it’s citizens. Keep blaming the Mormons though. You can attack the Mormons all day long and into the morning. That won’t make gay marriage legal in California. You can accuse the Mormons of whatever you want, but you can’t tell them they don;t have a right to vote their conscience and fund a campaign. Furthermore. If the constitution guarantees EQUAL RIGHTS why can’t I smoke cigarettes in McDonalds? Equal rights for everyone but smokers. Get a real argument and then let’s talk.
Robert, NYC
ChicagoLiberal: thanks for that. They’re all cults indeed. This Rodney sounds a lot like that other fucktard, Michael Letterman who trolls gay sites.
ChicagoLIberal
Rodney – what facts do I need web links for to back up – ummm – how do you say it in Mormonese . . . my TESTIMONY! Look at the closed missions in South America as evidence of a downturn in members. Mormons have been telling people they are the fastest growing religion in the world. They inflate numbers and counted me for 20 years after I left. And counting the dead to inflate the numbers is just as stupid but has been exposed over and over.
Prop 69 – BAN SAME SEX DOOR TO DOOR Mormon Missionaries!
Bertie
See you in the Celestial Kingdom of Kolob, cocksuckers!
reluctantcommenter
rodney, you are so misinformed. first, the term is moot, not mute. and the point isn’t moot. second, mormons did bankroll the prop 8 campaign. fred schubert of protectmarriage.com, which supported the ban, even admits it in a salt lake tribune article:
“Utah’s big-dollar involvement can be linked to the LDS Church, the state’s dominant institution, which urged churchgoers in a variety of ways to support the measure with their time and money…’Mormon members were instrumental in the campaign, there’s no question,’ Schubert said from his Sacramento office. ‘They donated far in excess of their representation in the population.'”
cut and paste to read the whole thing yourself:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11044453
sorry rodney, when the LDS church chooses to insert itself into the legislative process to the degree it did with prop 8, it’s can’t call victim status.
AlanInUtah
I’m wondering why we are all wasting our time with this POS Rodney? I don’t need to waste anymore of my time or energy on hateful scum.
rodney
Hateful scum? What have I said that’s hateful? I’ve seen some pretty angry hateful word thrown at the Mormon Church and it’s members.
All I’m saying is that I disagree with you and that by posting links to stories like Pratt serves no purpose other than to try and put down Mormons as a whole. I don’t hate homosexuals. One of my best friends and brother is a homosexual. He and I don’t see eye to eye on issues for obvious reasons but at least we can be civil about it. Chicago has completely lost his mind. Alan hasn’t made a single good point. Robert has resorted to barking expletives. Bertie and reluctant are religious bigots and can’t accept that anyone has a differing opinion. Bill got his law degree out of a Cracker Jack box. You can hate the Mormons all you want. That’s your civil right. What you can’t do is erode a thousands of years old tradition of marriage without a fight from a society that cherishes it. Do you think Mormons would be justified in boycotting homosexuals, destroying their gathering places, and shouting expletives at them had Prop 8 not passed? Think about it for a minute. Mormons have done nothing to persecute homosexuals. Mormons have only voted to keep marriage between a man and a woman…..just like the vast, vast, vast, majority of the USA.
Also thanks for the spelling tip on mute/moot. I won’t forget next time.
John (still that one from England)
@ Rodney
You’re evil. What you said re Chicago….
How can you ridicule what he said, after what YOU said? Should WE ignore YOUR disclaimer?
“I was molested by Mormons from 10 to 16. I was forced to disclose in agonizing detail how I masturbated to a lay minister whose hands I never saw during the interview. While at BYU I was forced to work as bait for homosexuals at the Smith Field House pool by the BYU secret police force. You are an asshole and stupid. Mormon populations are declining and the welfare program is all but halted. ”
Really.
“Who are they John, and why are they getting a free pass from you? Where’s the article on Queerty slamming Blacks?”
Google on queerty. This ALL they do, slam black people as homophobic…I guess you didn’t ‘read’ either??
PopSnap
@Rodney
AERFGHJKL:!!!!
How hard is it for you to understand?!?! You’re making a comparison between something that is a passing moral, just one of many religious teachings that you don’t otherwise try to legislate into law, and something that is for us a lifelong commitment and one of the most important aspects of our being. Gay marriage has become OUR most holy and important sacrament. We aren’t infringing ANYTHING upon you, we are not preventing you from doign ANYTHING, you could very easily ignore us for the rest of your life.
Do you go after people who have sex outside marriage, too? How about liars? Cheaters? Muslims? Hindus? Atheists? Gamblers? People who get tattoos? Maybe I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with the Mormons if they went after the above people with equal zeal and passion. It’s only US, we who have been oftentimes told we are unequal, unloved, unwanted, terrible, sinful, who have been shoved into lockers at school and had our peers laugh at us, who have been stripped of dignity time and time again. Just for who we LOVE.
It’s not affecting you, PERIOD. Leave it alone. Go off and do volunteer work, if you want to do the work of Christ.
If you just left US alone, we’d leave YOU alone. I for one have no desire to mingle with Mormons, or even go within 50 feet of your nearest church. I’m happy with my life, so stay out of it please.
PopSnap
Oh and Mormons “boycotting our business, shouting expleteives, ect.” to us if Prop 8 failed would make not a lick of sense, because obviously again it does. not. affect. their. lives. in. any. way. shape. or. form.
-would your marriage be threatened?
-Would your ability to marry the one you love be threatened?
-Would you have your status downgraded to second-class citizen?
-Would you loose tax benefits
-not be allowed to adopt children
-Not be allowed to visit your dying loved one in the hospital
All of the above are what transpired for US after Prop 8 passed. If it had failed, nothing would happen to you. Nothing at ALL.
rodney
Agree to disagree.
B
rodney wrote, “Fighting the Mormons is the best thing you could do for their cause. As they say, ‘any publicity is good publicity’.”
It depends on how you fight them. One thing you could do, for example, is to require that nominally tax-free organizations contributing to political campaigns pay taxes on the money they contribute to those campaigns or the fair market value of any work they put in. Would that hurt the Mormons? Sure. Would it seem unfair to the general public? Probably not because it can be billed as merely an attempt to have the proverbial “level playing field”.
Bill
@ ROD
I simply can not have an intelligent debate with you if you continue to bring disingenuous arguments to the table.
Your desire to equate my family’s civil rights with smoking at McDonald’s would really tell me everything I need to know about your tactics, now wouldn’t it?
Shall I compare YOUR family to civil-rights denying bigots? Oh, um, wait….
Commonqueer
Ugh, why can’t we flag anymore? Could we please have Rodney blocked?
ChicagoLIberal
*Rodney – I will fight for my civil rights. I pay taxes. Marriage is a state by state institution and has nothing to do with ANY religions.
You say I have lost my mind but I lived many torturous years at church and on a mission being molested, beaten and lied to.
Membership Falsehoods from the SLC Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890645
BYU Secret Police Operated out of the Green House:
http://mormonism.suite101.com/article.cfm/byu_electroshock_aversion_therapy
I was forced to take a lie detector test there before being forced into baiting for the BYU police.
I lived this. Stay out of my life and I will turn the other cheek like a true Christian (but I’m Buddhist) and won’t make all the obvious jokes about Mormons. I know them all.
reluctantcommenter
joseph smith stared at a stone in his hat to translate some mysterious golden plates that supposedly tell the story of israelites that once inhabited north america. he also implored the same method in his attempts to find ‘treasure.’ calling attention to the absurdity of that does not make me a bigot. virgin births, seas parting, pillars of salt, these are things i can freely reject based on rational thought, and not be a bigot.
Mormon’s financing a campaign that strips people of their innate rights? that’s a bigot.
rodney
B. and how exactly would you do that? Do you think that taxing Mormons is the answer? All that would do is open the door for them to start backing candidates and whatever else they wanted. Be careful what you wish for.
Commonqueer. Are you afraid of a differing opinion? Are you that insecure. Must I remind you that it’s me against everyone. Afraid of little old me…don’t read my comments then.
Bill, you’re “family” shares all the civil rights all Americans enjoy. You Bill can get married all day long assuming it’s not to an underage relative of the same gender. American citizens have a civil right to vote their conscience. You can’t attack them for that and think it’s ok because you don’t agree. It’s not ok. You can debate them all day long and hope to win support for your cause, but when you start intimidating them you’ve crossed the line. Would it be fair for thugs to stand at voting booths with baseball bats in hand frightening of homosexual voters? Of course not. Voter intimidation is never ok. Why are homosexuals attacking Mormon houses of worship? Why are homosexuals demanding Mormons are fired from their jobs? Don’t you see this as being anti-democratic?
ChicagoLIberal
Ummm Rodney – We are not attacking your houses or worship or asking for Mormons to be fired from their jobs. We are asking people who take gay money and supported Prop 8 with that money to get a slap of kharma. We can choose to not stand for exploitation and discrimination.
I know the LDS church teaches that in the last days the Prophet will take over as the POTUS. Its why the DC temple has the secret Jesus room just like in SLC. Mormons are not benign in their teachings for our earthly life or after life. And the crazy teachings – constantly revised so as to not show them for the bigots that founded the polygamous sect. Tell me these aren’t you teachings. How many wives are you planning in the Celestial Kingdom? A planet for each?
And this is a web site for gays and gay friendly people. You came here trolling and now you feel bad about being ganged up on by 6 gay men. Is that some twisted fantasy?
Peter
Rodney–you are something!!! You never give up changing the subject. When was your house of worship attacked? When did you get fired for being a Mormon????
But if you had ever read any history of this planet, you would know the you so-call “traditional marriage” has not be so traditional. Gay marriages were very common and accepted by the Christian Churches prior to your so-called traditional marriages. The Sacrament of Marriage was even thought of until the 12th century AD.
Republican
Orgy time!
ChicagoLIberal
Just for Rodney –
Talk about Dallin H(oax) Oaks unconscionably rewriting Mormon Church history for expediency’s sake:
“[According to Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks], [t]he ancient order of marriage is the divinely sanctioned union, recognized by the state, between one man and one woman[.] [Quoting fellow LDS apostle M. Russell Ballard from a speech Ballard delivered in 2008 at Brigham Young University, Oaks declared]: ‘We follow Jesus Christ by adhering to God’s law of marriage, which is marriage between one man and one woman. This commandment has been in place from the very beginning.’ . . . [see Oaks, ‘Religious Freedom,’ in ‘Newsroom: The Official (Mormon) Church Resource for News Media, Opinion Leaders, and the Public,’ transcript of Oaks’ speech at BYU-Idaho, Rexbury, 13 October 2009, http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/religious-freedom%5D”
Now, for the inconvenient caveats:
“EXCEPT, if you are the Patriarch Abraham, in which case you can be married to Sarah (who might be your half-sister), and to Sarah’s slave girl, Hagar. The ancient order of marriage is pretty liberal when it comes to marrying siblings, cousins and slaves.
“EXCEPT, if you are Kind David or King Solomon, in which case you might have as many as 300 wives and 300 additional concubines, and copulating with and siring children by slaves was perfectly acceptible, both in the eyes of your citizens, and in the eyes of God, who sanctioned the practice.
“EXCEPT, if you are Jesus, and married to both Mary Magdalene and Elizabeth (and likely others) ([a] [t]eaching unique to early Mormon apostles, most notably Jedediah Grant, Orson Hyde, and Brigham Young).
“EXCEPT, if you are Joseph Smith, in which case you can secretly practice polygamy to girls as young as 14, and also be married to women who are already married to other men. The ancient order of marriage demands, however, that you don’t tell your first wife about all the others, because it makes her really mad. For that matter, it’s best not to tell ANYONE except your good buddies, because then they might think twice about your apostolic calling.
“EXCEPT, if you are Brigham Young, in which case you can have as many as 55 wives married to you in this life, and untold numbers sealed to you in the life hereafter. It is also perfectly acceptable to divorce them if they don’t take care of themselves, or expect you to take care of them.
“EXCEPT, if you are John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Wilford Woodruff, George Cannon, Heber Kimball, and on and on and on, in which case you can obtain a new wife every time your last wife gets worn out.
“EXCEPT, if your wife died, and you’re an LDS apostle, you can be sealed to another, much younger woman, so you’ll get both of ’em in the eternities. (Dallin Oaks married June Dixon in 1952, who passed away in 1998. In 2000, he married Kristen McMain, both of whom are sealed to him for time and all eternity–contrary to the ‘ancient order of marriage’).
“But other than THAT, the Mormons are absolutely correct in defending the ‘ancient order of marriage.'”
(**Source: “Helping Elder Oaks: The Ancient Order Of Marriage,” by “peter_mary,” 16 October 2009, original emphasis)
Rob Moore
Rodney, I was deflowered at 13 by a boy who was 14 going on 15. He grew up to be heterosexual as far as I can tell. On the other hand, I grew up to be a big old homo. Obviously, I found it to be far more engaging than he did. By the time I was 15, he ignored me in favour of people with tits and vaginas.
Bill
@ Rodney
Bill actually got his law degree from Yale. But thanks for the insult, Rod.
You state, “Don’t you see this as being anti-democratic?”
Rodney, as I previously stated, it is Heterosexual Americans who are perpetrating this crime. It is Heterosexual Americans who are not following the laws of the Constitution. What you are angry about is that we are fighting back and we are winning. We understand just how that feels, having been on the other side of it for so long. But you can only deny the law for so long.
In the end, justice always wins, Rodney. In the meantime, heterosexual Americans might want to check themselves. Because when the Constitution of The Unted States finally keeps its promise to Gay Americans, you all will have MUCH to explain. MUCH to ask forgivness for, and quite simply, nothing else to say about this matter ever again.
But it IS highly amusing to watch heterosexuals try and justify treating the gay human beings they created as something less than human beings. And more than a bit disgusting.
Again, Rodney, ZERO moral ground here. ZERO. It makes you appear godless when you try to assume moral superiority while being complicit in crimes against 30 million Americans that you and yours deem to be inferior to you.
So, dear boy, again, I can only say to you, morality indeed, Rodney.
Morality indeed.
Until you do right by us and in turn, god, your life will remain in failure mode. Of that I am certain. That you would use your god to justify your bigotry is about the most immoral act I can think of. And yet so many of you are so willing to do so.
There is not a doubt in my mind that god will take the heterosexual sins of abuse, degradation, humiliation, torture, rape and murder of HIS gay creations FAR more seriously than he will take the genitalia of another’s beloved.
“People pay for what they do, and further still, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay simply; by the lives they lead.”
James Baldwin
Good night, good luck and most definitely goodbye.
Respectfully,
Bill
Rod v the rest
Wow, everybody against Rodney. It seems that if Rodney’s ideas were completely without merit, we would just ignore him. But alas, let’s just rage and hope that helps us sleep better.
petted
Is it me or does Rodney spend a ridiculous amount of time here, clearly he’s a bit obsessed. Secondly Rodney if you’d bothered to read the entire article you’d note that no one ever said that all Mormons sexually abused under age children in point of fact the article points, albeit indirectly, that the Mormon population in the United States is as likely to contain sexual predators as any other demographic group you might name. Unfortunately however there seems to be an unwillingness to address concerns regarding child abuse in the Mormon community – certainly this isn’t the first case of a Mormon religiously affiliated school/program being shown to endanger the youth for example the West Ridge Academy. For those curious I’ve included a few links that might be of interest
http://ldssexchildabuse.blogspot.com/
http://www.mormongulag.com/
rodney
Wow, You guys are still talking? Guess what. All those angry words against Mormons and gay marriage is STILL illegal in California. You guys need to take another approach because picking on Mormons isn’t working. All it’s doing is giving Mormons credibility with the evangelicals. I suppose between gays and Mormons we’re the lesser of two evils. By sheer numbers alone the Mormons don’t have the votes to sway anything in California. Ever heard of a ‘red herring’? Mormons are taking the heat off of the rest of religious folks while they mobilize across the Country. Keep taking the bait…you’re only hurting your own cause and pushing the Mormons into ‘rockstar status’ with Evangelicals.
Attmay
Three words: Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Bubba
God made Adam and Eve — Not Adam and SUSAN, JOAN, BECKY and AMY!
Robert, NYC
So Bubba, apt name by the way. If your God made Adam & Eve who according to the book of fairy tales “begat” children, then explain to all of us how the planet became populated if only they were the first humans? You want to know how?
Simple really, they must have committed heterosexual INCEST with their own, permissible in the old jewish testament of course. How does that grab ya? Debunks the myth about marriage equality causing incest and polygamy, the latter also permitted in the old testament and until recently, the mormon cult, though islam to this day permits it. I doubt if gays had anything to do with that either, moron.
rudy
No. 61 · Rod v the rest
No, his ideas ARE without merit.
Sadly, Queerty does not have FLAGS – this should be aa safe space for gays to discuss issues.
There is enough diversity of opinion within the LGBT community and we don’t need to be giving missionary trolls another forum.
Tom Jones
Please refer to me as a ‘pederast’, not ‘pedophile’. It’s much nicer.
Rev. Jones
B
rodney wrote, ” B. and how exactly would you do that? Do you think that taxing Mormons is the answer? All that would do is open the door for them to start backing candidates and whatever else they wanted. Be careful what you wish for.” You mean you want them to be able to support political activities tax free instead?
If you tax their political activities, it will simply reduce the amount of money they can use for such purposes to the same level that non-religious people have. You shouldn’t let a church use tax-free dollars to fund political campaigns, whether for candidates or for legislation, when you tax atheists who are doing exactly the same thing.
If the Mormons are taxed on the fair market value of their fundraising, that simply puts them on an equal footing with non-religious organizations, all of which have to use after-tax
dollars for that purpose.
Taxing them on the basis of the fraction of their income used for political activities is simply fair – it is a way of maintaining the proverbial level playing field.
ericka v.
Rodney is right! Maine voted for traditional marriage and now Catholics are being blamed for the gay loss. What is obvious is that none of you are understanding a basic point. Your message does not ring true with the majority. Blame anyone you want, guess what? You will continue losing. People are voting their conscience. You activists are labeling the very people who support YOU, Christians, as homophobes and bigots. That is so smart to demean 95% of your support. That is a real election winner allright. 31 states in a row shows how effective that is.
You speak about others denying rights to yourselves(gay), and that is ridiculous. Everyone here has the exact same rights as any other citizen. Pretending different will not change it. Minorities, especially blacks are not at all happy with the “gay is the new black” meme. It is false, and linking the demands for sexual entitlements as a civil rights struggle to the real civil rights struggles is offensive.
All of you can keep on labeling, demeaning and living in Wonderland, but the simple fact is the majority of people believe homosexual marriage is wrong. Forcing them to accept a contrary belief will never work. Demeaning them for it will result in less support.
None of you bright bulbs have figured it out yet. All of you have constantly demeaned any and all Christians, and now you whine about losing, not enough Christians turned out to support your cause, Gee, I wonder why?
Robert, NYC
Ericka, the wording on the ballot actually indicated that religious cults would be subject to performing same-sex marriages. An outrageous lie and therefore fraudulent to put this on the ballot in the first place. Seven countries and five states in the union stipulate that no religious cult is obliged to perform such marriages. After Gov. Baldacci signed the bill legalizing marriage equality voted on by the legislature, it was made quite clear that this was about civil marriage, not religious marriage. This is the same m.o. used in California, based on lies.
We don’t give a rat’s ass what you say, we may have lost two states, but we’ll gain a few more whether your like it or not. We don’t care how many so called christians supported discrimination, its immaterial. The fact of the matter is, religious cults have been and are the primary instigators of homophobia that has spread its venom around the world, look at its history. Nothing has changed. Taking away peoples’ rights is not democratic, its called ochlocracy, mob rule. Under the constitution, the rights of the minority must be protected from the tyranny of the majority under the full faith and credit clause, no matter if you agree with it or not. Clearly, this was an exercise in selective bigotry against one group of people. If you can’t get that through your thick skull, then you’re dumber than I thought you were.
How would you like it if the LGBT voting bloc in states where ochlocracy is legal introduced a ballot initiative to ban tax-exemption of all religious cults interfering in the political process for starters (and there are many progressive heterosexuals and a lot of atheists who would support it), as well as banning secular marriage licenses to those who opt for a religious ceremony, removing their state benefits and privileges that can only come via marriage? I guess that wouldn’t be construed as heterophobia now would it? I wonder how you’d feel if it happened to you and your kind? Likewise, we too could employ the “we don’t hate heterosexuals” excuse, only the rights they enjoy that we’re excluded from.
You just don’t get it, do you?
schlukitz
Peeps…Rodney is a Troll from Trollatia and the only language he speaks is Trollish.
Now, how can you expect to have a meaningful dialogue with someone who only speaks Trollish, when you’ve never learned how to speak it (not that you’d want to)?
Give it up and let the Troll babble on, like a dog baying at the moon.
He doesn’t understand a word you are saying to him…and never will.