Comments about ‘Gay-rights advocates begin media blitz’

Here's a hint for the gay-rights advocates: If you want LDS voters to take your proposals seriously, you need to talk to your radical brethren in California who are preparing an "Enemies List" of Mormons who donated money to help pass Proposition 8.

Some left-wing websites have already posted threats of vandalism and harassment against members of the Church who donated.

"Respect" is a two-way street. As long as gay-rights activists are threatening to harass Mormons for supporting what they believe, I don't feel very inclined to support your agenda. And I will make it clear to any legislators who support you that I will never vote for them.

According to the tobacco industry smoking makes you sexy, makes it so you drive a nice car and have lots of pretty girlfriends.
Just putting it on a billboard doesn't make it right.

I am continually impressed how the LDS Church is consistent, fair, moral and family oriented in their positions, comments and counsels. In fact, the Church has shown vision in what they stand for and what they teach. In contrast, many people or organizations have not shown commitment to moral principals. Confidence in the quality of leadership in the Church is justified.

The truth and equality Utah have a constant relationship. They never touch.
To claim that the Church supports any of these bills is a lie. There is a big difference between not opposing and supporting.
The fact that Equality Utah persists in claiming the Church supports its initiatives when the Church has emphatically stated it has not taken a position on any pending legislation in Utah shows that this group is willing to lie about anything to advance its cause.
If they are lieing in such an open way, what other lies are they telling that we have not detected?

Gay folks need to understand something.... after the prop 8 passage in California, the entire country saw the ugly face of the gay movement displayed all across the country. Now, gay supporters are seeking tolerance and open mindedness toward their cause - something they couldn't and wouldn't show themselves toward those which happened to have a different point of view toward homosexual behavior (remember the elderly woman who was knocked to ground and physically and mentally abused by the gay rights supporters). BECAUSE of their recent show of classless hypocrisies, the gay movement is NOT something anyone is ready shallow.

Gays need to cool it. People in Utah don't want what you're peddling. After your stupid behavior following prop 8, people are sick of your message so please just take a time out.

the LDS Church "does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional right of churches."

This is a perfect opportunity for the LDS church to demonstrate that they mean what they are sincere. If they can spend 280,000 to support prop 8 and garner 20 million in member contributions to passing prop 8, it shouldn't be difficult for them in their own state of Utah to support and pass the very legislation they say they have no objections to. It won't cost them anything near 250,000...because they won't have to travel to another state. They don't even have to support the legislation, all they need to do is tell their members and mormon legislators to get out of the way and not hinder the proposed legislation. Members seem to follow the leaders on opposing gay marriage, can they follow their leaders words on this issue? That is the question...we'll soon have an answer to just how faithful their followers are.

The less sympathetic I feel. Gays...If you really want acceptance, quit cramming your special privilege legislation down our throats. You already have the same rights as everyone else so please go about your lives and stay out of mine!

Martin Luther King Jr. and Caesar Chavez should have taken a time out too. Those trouble makers.

If Equality Utah wants to pay for billboards and advertising that is a completely legal and responsible forum for political discussion. I would think the LDS Church would prefer an Equality Utah ad campaign (albeit an incredibly mild one) rather than protests outside the Church Office Building being broadcast internationally on CNN.

Utah's gays and lesbians, and their families, are not going to hide under a rock just to make social conservatives comfortable. The Common Ground bills are simple, basic protections that are not extreme, not anti-marriage, nor anti-family. To loudly proclaim that these bills open the floodgates to gay marriage (when the state constitution specifically bars it through Amendment Three) is just fear mongering and deliberate distortion. It adds nothing of value to the discussion.

If these moderate bills about employment discrimination, housing, and visitation rights get instantly killed in committee and can't even be discussed on the floor of the legislature, then what other options do gays and lesbian have to get their message out?

I would request that everyone read the bills, and carefully (even prayerfully) consider their implications before you automatically reject them.

Hey Helpful Advice, thanks for lumping all gays into one big monolithic group and judging all of us by the most radical fringes in the group. I'm sure you Utah LDS love it when all Mormons are judged by the acts of fringe fundamentalist polygomous Mormons. That's a fair comparison right? How would it feel if someone suggested you better get those fundamentalist in line if you want to gain the respect of the rest of America. Please.

Do the three remaining bills have clauses in them that prohibit the new law from infringing on the constitutional right of churches.

Somehow that probably didn't make the draft.

I would hardly put MLK in the same category as gay rights activists. He promoted peace, not bigotry and hatred. He actually had a leg to stand on. No rights are being denied gays, no matter how much some scream to the contrary. Blacks were enslaved, and hardly anyone had the guts to treat them with the dignity they deserved. No one I know in UT, or in any mormon community, desires harm on gay and lesbians. HUGE difference.

Here's another hint:

Stop comparing gay activism to the civil rights movement. It's offensive to anyone who has ever read a history book.

To John Pack Lambert, Please show me where Equality Utah has ever said that the LDS Church supports the bills in the Common Ground Initiative. The lie is that the LDS Church is not anti-gay because it does not oppose basic legal protections for gays. The LDS Church's statement was nothing more than a crass PR move to take the heat off its efforts in CA.

Show me a recovering african-american and you are allowed to lump the civil rights movement of the past with the homosexual movement of today. There are thousands of recovering homosexuals who have changed lifestyles. I know of no recovering african-americans.

Bad idea: highjack the African-American civil rights movement. Gay is not the new black.

I figured it would only take a few comments until a gay activist regurgitated the "lie" attack.

Ned, where are the non-radical gay activists?

If they exist, I haven't seen them step forward to condemn the vandalism and terrorism.

If they have, they are few and far between and we're not talking about a "radical fringe" at all.

why am I always being asked to be tolerant?

Maybe the gays should be "tolerant" of my views as well.

Gays are more than welcome to share their opinions on the public square. But if they start to skew statements to present something that was not the intended meaning...I think that defeats the purpose.

Comparing "fringe" Mormons and "fringe" gay-rights activists is not completely accurate. The FLDS Church has a membership 1/52nd the size of the mainstream LDS Church with no connections between the two. My experience in California last year leads me to believe the "fringe" gay ratio to the mainstream is more like 1 in 4 or 5. Also, these "fringe" gay activists were actively involved in the all parts of the campaign. FLDS are excomunicated from the LDS Church. Once again, quite different.

Also, the gay-rights movement is completely unique from the Civil Rights Movement and should not be compared. Remember the Little Rock 9? They had to be protected by the military to enter school! One had acid poured on her face!! Gays can vote, sit on any bus seat, use any restroom, enter any resteraunt, use any drinking fountain. You could never convince me that homosexuals today are treated in a way anywhere close to how blacks were treated.