8: The Mormon Proposition, a documentary exploring the role of the LDS Church in the passage of Proposition 8, will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, deep in the Mormon heartland. From the Salt Lake Tribute:

“We’re bringing the pain of this home,” said Reed Cowan, who directed “8: The Mormon Proposition,” which will have its world premiere next month in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival.

Cowan’s documentary is one of more than 50 titles announced Dec. 3 in the festival’s non-competitive slate.

“It’s really well done, and it’s really thorough,” festival director John Cooper said. “[Cowan] goes very deep, into the Mormon Church and its relationship to the anti-gay-marriage movement, all the way back almost before it really started, all the way back to the ’90s.”

The movie chronicles the 2008 campaign for Prop. 8, which overturned a court decision to allow same-sex marriage in California. In the film, Cowan tracks the LDS Church’s involvement with the Yes on 8 forces — and reveals what the film’s producer/editor Steven Greenstreet calls “an orchestrated strategic campaign” by the church to pass similar ballot measures in other states over the past two decades.

The LDS Church had no comment on the film, a spokesman said Thursday.

The trailer for the film is below.

In a bill introduced today by Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, enlisted gay and lesbian soldiers could testify against DADT without  fear of retribution. From Hasting’s website:

The Honest and Open Testimony Act expands current whistleblower protections between members of the Armed Forces and Members of Congress to include communications from active-duty service members who testify concerning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in a Congressional hearing, as well as those who do so and disclose their sexual orientation.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell hurts our troops, runs counter to the values of our Armed Forces, and threatens our national security.  Since the law was implemented in 1994, over 13,500 qualified service members have been lost to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and counting.  Furthermore, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell continues to undermine and demoralize the more than 65,000 GLBT Americans currently serving on active duty,” said Hastings.

“As the United States continues to work toward responsibly ending the war in Iraq and reengages the threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan, our GLBT service members offer invaluable skills that enhance our military’s potency and readiness.  They are linguists, aviators, medics, and highly-trained soldiers who are involved in valuable operations that have nothing to do with their sexual orientation and everything to do with protecting our freedom and advancing our national security interests.

Hastings is a long time opponent of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Back in September he introduced an amendment to a defense appropriations bill which would have cut off funding for future DADT investigations. His appearance on Rachel Maddow below.

In a recently published interview, Mexican Cardinal Javier Barragan said “Transexuals and homosexuals will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s not me who says it but St. Paul.” From Reuters:

Asked if people were born homosexual Barragan, whose comments were posted on a conservative Catholic website called www.pontifex.roma,it, was quoted as saying:

“One is not born homosexual but they become that way. This is for various reasons: education, for not having developed their identity during their adolescence, maybe they are not guilty but by going against the dignity of the body they certainly will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“Everything that goes against nature and against the dignity of the body offends God,” he added.

The now retired Vatican official has already been rebuked by his former employer, seeking to distance themselves and the Pope from his statement, while citing the same tired “hate the sin, love the sinner” refrain.  Italy’s biggest gay rights groups called the remarks as more “ridiculous theories about sexuality and the dignity of the person.”

Marriage equality took another hit today as the New York State Senate failed to pass a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in their state. From the NYT:

The bill was defeated by a decisive margin of 38 to 24. The Democrats, who have a bare, one-seat majority, did not have enough votes to pass the bill without some Republican support, but not a single Republican senator voted for the measure..

In a debate that in many instances was cast in unusually personal tones, many senators delivered emotional speeches on the floor of the chamber, equating the struggle for gay rights to the civil rights movement or the battle women have waged for equality.

One of the bill’s sponsors, State Senator Thomas K. Duane of Manhattan, who is gay, said the bill would finally give him something that as a New Yorker he has never enjoyed.

“This legislation would merely provide me and tens of thousands of other New Yorkers with equal rights in New York State,” Mr. Duane said. “It would make me equal in every way to everyone else in this chamber.”

Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who represents Manhattan’s Upper East Side and another of the bill’s sponsors, said her grandparents came to the United States to escape persecution against Jews. As a Jew and a woman, Ms. Krueger said her decision to support same-sex marriage was easy to make.

But State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx made an impassioned argument against same-sex marriage, describing his continued opposition as reflecting the broad consensus that marriage should be limited to a union between a man and woman. “Not only the evangelicals, not only the Jews, not only the Muslims, not only the Catholics, but also the people oppose it,” he said.

Yesterday the NY Assembly had passed the same measure by a 88-51 margin. Unfortunately the Senate vote kills any chance for marriage equality in the state of New York for the foreseeable future.