Frankly, we’ve been feeling a little left out. We’d read about these insidious “robocalls” on the internet but haven’t had the pleasure of receiving one yet. Until tonight.

We live in a very middle-class neighborhood just outside of San Francisco. The homes and some of it’s residents date back to the 1950’s and there’s a certain Edward Scissorhands/Tim Burton quality to the place. It’s an ethnically-diverse community, families with children playing in their yards and seniors out walking their dogs. We have our own schools and shopping centers. We moved here because it was affordable, close to San Francisco and seemed welcoming.

But not so much over the past few weeks. Yes on 8 signs began springing up like weeds recently. Some homes have plastered their windows with the ProtectMarriage logo. Just this evening we learned that a Yes on 8 rally took place in our neighborhood today, and the No on 8 sign we planted last night is now gone.

Perhaps it has something to do with the No on 8 fliers we have been putting in people’s mailboxes over the past few weekends. Or that there seems to be a church on every third block unsympathetic to our equal rights.

And tonight we come home to this:

The quote is from the Saddleback Forum that Barack Obama and John McCain attended back in August, moderated by Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Allow me to provide the full quote, as the robocall edits out the “but” that follows Barack’s answer.

WARREN: There’s a lot more I’d like to ask on that. We have 15 other questions here. Define marriage.

OBAMA: I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian — for me — for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix. But –

WARREN: Would you support a Constitutional Amendment with that definition?

OBAMA: No, I would not.

WARREN: Why not?

OBAMA: Because historically — because historically, we have not defined marriage in our constitution. It’s been a matter of state law. That has been our tradition. I mean, let’s break it down. The reason that people think there needs to be a constitutional amendment, some people believe, is because of the concern that — about same-sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions. I do believe that we should not — that for gay partners to want to visit each other in the hospital for the state to say, you know what, that’s all right, I don’t think in any way inhibits my core beliefs about what marriage are. I think my faith is strong enough and my marriage is strong enough that I can afford those civil rights to others, even if I have a different perspective or different view.

Another misleading ad from the Yes on 8 crowd. Recently Obama and Biden have come out more strongly against Prop 8 calling it unnecessary and wrong. While I obviously don’t share my candidates’ views on same-sex marriage, with an Obama-Biden administration I can at least see us moving in the right direction.

And Yes on 8? Thanks for the extra bit of motivation. I’ll be planting more signs in our neighborhood tonight. I will take a day off from work tomorrow and spend my early morning voting No on Proposition 8 and then casting my ballot for Barack Obama as our next president. I will then stand with my partner and my best friends outside my polling location distributing fliers and asking them to vote No on Prop 8. I will do my part.

Now you do yours. Vote No on 8.

Fred Karger of Californian’s Against Hate issued a press release today announcing Mormon contributions now account for $22 million of all donations received in support of Proposition 8. Three million in the past week alone. And two million of that from the 8 major donors below:

Alan Ashton, Lindon, Utah – $1,000,000
Hartford Holdings, Provo, Utah – $300,000
David Moon, Alpine, Utah – $200,000
Michelle Adams Watterson, Cache, Utah – $100,000
Roger Bayer, Salt Lake City, Utah – $100,000
Katharine, Garff, Bountiful, Utah, – $100,000
Belinda Vandersloot, Idaho Falls, Idaho $100,000
The Vineyard Group (Cardon & Haitt Families), Mesa, Arizona $100,000

From Karger’s press release:

Now with the additional $3 million of late Mormon money contributed over the last 9 days added to the $19.15 million previously given by over 59,000 Mormon families, the new total is over $22 million. This makes Prop. 8 the largest Mormon political undertaking in the 178 year history of the Mormon Church.

The audacity of Mormons who have a long history of discrimination, and who are now investing so much time and money into stripping away our rights here in California, is truly astonishing. When the dust settles and Proposition 8 has either won or lost, their role in this election must be rigorously examined. We must determine whether or not any religious entity should be able exert so much influence and power in the political process, without consequences. Revoking their tax exemption status perhaps?

Again I ask, will we let them do this? Please vote No on 8.

Visit Californian’s Against Hate to view the entire release.

This is just precious. And a lot of truth in it. While it may not present the view of all Mormons, it certainly presents the view of the LDS church and their leaders, and those mortgaging their homes and their families futures in support of Prop 8. Enjoy.

Note: If you have trouble viewing the video, I have also provided a locally hosted version.

Brought to you by the wonderful folks at CourageCampaign.org.

Proposition 8 and the election in general has brought out the worst side of us, as evidenced by overt racism at the McCain/Palin rallies and the growing tensions in California over marriage equality. Hate is finally out of the closet and on display for the whole world to see. In California, some Proposition 8 supporters compare gays and lesbians to Hitler, while others see us bringing about the end times. There seems to be no limit to what they will say or do.

I’ve put together a list of eight reasons why voting No on Prop 8 might not be such a terrible idea, particularly if you don’t want to be associated with the lot below. Here they are, in no particular order

1. People who want marriage equality are well, like, Hitler

Brad Dacus ([email protected], (916) 857-6900) a spokesman for Proposition 8, spoke passionately in Sacramento equating their struggle against gay marriage and saving the soul of America, to the people of faith in Germany who left the soul of their country to Hitler.  Really?

2. The Mormons

By far the largest financial contributors to Proposition 8, Mormons have a long history of veiled hate and intolerance. Their church mobilized against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 70s. Blacks were not allowed into the temple until 1978, frowned on interracial marriage, and expelled gays and lesbians from their church who are unable to go straight. Sounds like an inclusive group to me.

3. 2012 Letter from Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family, one of Prop 8’s largest contributors, have released a fictional letter written by a Christian circa 2012, telling the story of what’s gone wrong with America in the first 4 years of an Obama presidency. Notable highlights include gay scoutmasters will be able to sleep in tents with young boys, schools can teach homosexuality as a personal choice, counselors and social workers can nolonger discriminate against homosexuals, and gays will target Christian book publishers, through defacement and censorship,  including cyber attacks against those booksellers carrrying their books. Are you kidding me?

4. The Call

Organized by religious leaders across the country, the Call brings together people to pray for the passage of Proposition 8 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego this weekend. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has decided at the last minute to join event, at the urging of Rev. Jim Garlow, who later goes on to say that he fears the end of western civilization if Prop 8 doesn’t pass.

Don’t these folks have something better to pray for? Like world peace? Or food for the millions starving across the globe. Or cures for the sick? This is how they choose to spend there time?

5. Yes on Proposition 8 Sends out Blackmail Letters

Last week the fine folks behind Proposition 8 sent out blackmail letters to many businesses that had made No on 8 donations, threatening to “out” them if they didn’t make a matching donation to Yes on 8. Truly tasteless.

6. Cyber attack of No on Prop 8 Website

After sending out an urgent call for donations to match Yes on 8’s recent funding surge, the No on Prop 8 site was attacked by hackers, denying contributors from making donations for several hours. Hackers can be bigots too I guess.

7. Tom McClintock

Tom McClintock who is running for Congress in Southern California is quoted as saying:

“Lincoln asked, ‘If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? The answer is four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one,'” McClintock said in a statement. “And calling a homosexual partnership a marriage doesn’t make it one.”

McClintock is no friend of the gay community.
 
8. Orange County, California

Yes,  the whole county. There’s nothing orange about it, it’s red, through and through. A bastion of support for Proposition 8, Yes on 8 signs are everywhere, from neighborhood lawns to billboards. Some of Proposition 8’s biggest contributors are from Orange County. Donors skew heavily conservative, religious, and Mormon. I suspect gays and lesbians are, well, unwelcome.

So, if you are planning to vote Yes on Prop 8, then you are associating yourself with the fine class of people mentioned in the examples above.  Is that what you really want?