Yesterday I posted a story about a family in San Jose who donated $30,000 — correction, over $60,000 total — to support Yes on Proposition 8. I hesitate to make this a daily Mormon rant, but here goes.

Fred Kager, who runs the Californians Against Hate website which provides a detailed (and publicly available) list of contributers who support Proposition 8, revealed today that Mormons have donated a staggering 18.6 million to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. That’s 77% of all total documented donations. Mormons also account for 88% of all individual money raised.

Mormons, instructed by their leaders in Salt Lake City Utah, are leading the charge to take away the rights of same-sex couples, both here in California and Arizona.

How do we fight this? How do we shed light on this, without looking religiously intolerant? At this point, do I really f*@cking care?

It also astounds me that the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 only has only amassed 30,000 donors out of an estimated 1 million LGBT Californians. And many of them are our straight allies.

Is marriage just not that important to our community? Don’t they realize that if we let them strip away this one right, it gives them license to strip away all the rights we’ve worked so hard for and now enjoy? (at least here in California)

I’m angry with the Mormon church for muscling their way into California politics in an attempt to steal away our rights and invalidate my marriage to my partner of 8 years. And I am angry with the members of my community, who won’t stand up to them.

Everyone needs to donate time, or donate money today. Put down the cosmopolitan. Skip the gym at least for a day. Reschedule that facial (lord knows I’ve done all of these things). And please make a difference.

Getting married may not matter to you now my LGBT friends, but trust me, it will.

A San Jose family placed a large “Yes on 8” banner on the front of their house, after their “Yes on 8” yard signs were recently stolen.

To counter the sign, supporters of marriage equality parked an SUV in front of the house with the words “Bigots Live Here” emblazoned on the rear window, with an arrow pointing toward the house.

The Sundstroms are Mormon. At the behest of their leaders in Utah, Mormons here and throughout the country are working hard to pass Proposition 8, donating nearly 10 million so far. Many going as far as taking a second mortgage out on their homes or withdrawing their savings to fund their cause.

And the Sundstroms donated $30,000 to Yes on Prop 8. Yesterday.

These are unintended consequences and we are hurting ourselves.

Not good for us.

I often say living in San Francisco is akin to a living bubble. It’s among the many reasons I choose to live here. Acceptance is a part of its DNA. People are free to be who they are or who they choose to be.

I’m reminded of that every time I hear a story like this one. Kim Ji-Hoo, a young Korean actor who recently came out of the closet, was found dead in his apartment of an apparent suicide. The note found at the scene read “I’m lonely and in a difficult situation. Please cremate my body.”

Police and Kim’s mother said that he was a victim of public prejudice and discrimination; the announcement of his sexual orientation had taken a terrible toll on his personal life and his career.

Unfortunately this is hardly unique. Like the gay teen in Derby England who was goaded into jumping off a building just yesterday by an angry mob, or a gay Mormon back in 2000 who killed himself in the hopes it would change his church. There are many more of course, too numerous to do them justice here, the suicide rate thriving in a culture of intolerance and discrimination.

It goes without saying that it is terribly important never to forget these individuals and those who came before them, and unfortunately, those who will inevitably come after. Lives so filled with despair because society refused to accept them for who they were, they saw no recourse but to take their own lives.

And their sacrifice must not be in vain. EVERY SINGLE LIFE LOST must propel us forward in the fight for tolerance, acceptance, and equal rights.

As I sit in my office inside this bubble that is San Francisco, I’m not sure if that bubble is there to stop them from getting in, or from us getting out. I’m also reminded that the 10th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death was only yesterday. Wow. We have such long way to go…

For Kim Ji-Hoo and those who took the same path, I hope they are now in a better place.