Catholics, Mormons joined to pass Prop. 8

Months before the first ads would run on Proposition 8, San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer reached out to a group he knew well, Mormons.

Archbishop Niederauer had made critical inroads into improving Catholic-Mormon relations while he was bishop of Salt Lake City for 11 years. And now he asked them for help on Prop. 8, the ballot measure that sought to ban same-sex marriages in California.

The June letter from Archbishop Niederauer drew in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proved to be a critical move in building a multi-religious coalition — the backbone of the fundraising, organizing and voting support for the successful ballot measure. By bringing together Mormons and Catholics, Archbishop Niederauer would align the two most powerful religious institutions in the Prop. 8 battle.

Ironically, it made San Francisco, center of the nation's gay community, a nexus in the fight against the recently gained gay right to marry.

This Catholic-Mormon alliance was part of a broad pattern that underscored a critical difference between the rival campaigns: Yes on 8 sought to marshal support among many religions, while the No on 8 campaign often put religion on the sidelines.

"People of faith, really of every faith, believed that marriage was between man and a woman," said Frank Schubert, political consultant to the Yes on 8 campaign. "They formed the core of our volunteer operation. They were largely responsible for the 70,000 contributions we got."

Some clergy within the No on 8 campaign believed not enough respect was paid to religion.

"Their focus really wasn't upon communities of faith," said the Rev. Roland Stringfellow, who works with the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and was an active organizer in the No on 8 campaign. The Rev. Stringfellow said No on 8's relative neglect of religion had a particularly profound effect on Latinos and African-Americans, who hold strong religious views. "I really didn't note particular outreaches to communities of color."

Exit polls show that religious views had a profound effect on the result, spanning racial lines: 84 percent of those who attend church weekly voted yes; 81 percent of white evangelicals voted yes; 65 percent of white Protestants voted yes; 64 percent of Catholics voted yes. Catholics accounted for 30 percent of all voters.

A late push by many churches to win over their congregations played a decisive role in increasing turnout and swaying opinion, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, who analyzed the figures.