Politically Active

I did something this morning that I haven't done since my mission: I went door-to-door spreading the word of God. It wasn't exactly a missionary effort this time though. California has some interesting social issues, one of them being the status of marriage. In the year 2000, California was able to vote on whether or not to allow same-sex couples to have a "traditional" marriage, and California voters shut it down, way down, like 61% to 39%, for keeping marriage between a man and a woman. In the past year or so, that decision was overturned by state legislature. In other words, millions upon millions of Californians told their lawmakers not to allow same-sex marriage, and a relatively small number of honorable representatives of the people basically gave everyone the finger and officially recognized gay marriage. Now, as the same millions and millions of Californians who shut down gay marriage in 2000 are crying "foul", there is a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would shut down gay marriage forever to be voted on in November. Of course, the honorable representatives of the people chose the words of the amendment very carefully, and it sounds something like this: "Proposition 8 -- Revokes the privilege of same-sex couples to enjoy the benefits of a traditional marriage." Makes it sound like the devil's amendment.

Anyway, about a month ago a letter was read in church services from the First Presidency about LDS responsibility to stand up for the church's position on homosexuality, and basically they said that it is every Latter-Day Saint's responsibility to do whatever they possibly can to help support the amendment and preserve families, because if this sticks in California, it won't be long before the rest of the country falls in. So this morning, I joined a group of mostly LDS volunteers who went door-to-door spreading awareness about Proposition 8 and doing surveys. Our purpose was only to explain to people exactly what it is and give them a little pamphlet to try to persuade them to vote the right way, so it wasn't really intimidating, but it was very depressing... Out of the 20 or so people I talked to (I was given a route to complete on my own, no companion) only 1 was for the amendment, and she was a little old lady around 90 years old. It was probably just an especially liberal area. But it really freaks me out how scary the world is becoming when we are starting to really have to fight for what is right, and by doing that we are seen as "bad" and "selfish". The media out here glorifies gay marriage so much, you can't open a newspaper or magazine without seeing pictures of the latest gay or lesbian couple and a whole article about how happy they are with a little extra recognition for the "pioneers" (the dirty politicians who disrespected the entire state) who made it all possible for them. It reminds me of all the scriptures that say in the last days that which is evil will be called good and that which is good will be called evil. I saw it played out in every detail today. I don't know how long we will be in this area, but if we have kids here it is going to be extremely challenging to filter all of the things they learn from school and TV and everything they will be exposed to every day. There was recently a proposition introduced to form a "gay day" holiday, like Martin Luther King day, a day off work and school to celebrate ethnic diversity and equality, except in this case to celebrate sexual diversity and equality. I can't wait to see what schools are going to teach my kids in preparation for this celebration... Almost tempting to homeschool... Almost...