Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Q Salt Lake, CBS News, KSL
Jacob Whipple is organizing a Salt Lake City rally to protest LDS support for Prop. 8
Salt Lake City gay activists are organizing a protest over the Mormon church's role in passage of California's Proposition 8, an amendment to the state constitution that reads "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid". Set for Friday night, Nov. 7 at 6:00 pm, protestors will meet at Temple Square in the heart of Salt Lake City at State Street and North Temple.
If Jacob Whipple gets what he's hoping for, at least 1,000 Utahns will join him Friday night to protest the involvement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in helping pass Proposition 8.
"We want to fight for our own rights," Whipple told a skeptical pair of morning-show hosts on church-owned KSL Radio today. "We want to show the world that we're willing to do that."
Audio link: Whipple explains the protest to church-owned KSL Radio
One of the hosts told Whipple that we are a "majority rule country" and asked him why folks weren't satisfied with the California outcome, since a lot of people had voted for it. "We are a majority-rule country," Whipple replied, "however we should look out for the minorities. What if we as a nation decided that the Mormons are a little too extreme and we voted to outlaw celestial marriages?" he asked.
The 29-year-old former LDS Church member, who served a mission in Argentina, was helping to get the word out late Thursday about the Utah protest, Salt Lake Tribune reports. He said he and others were seeking support through e-mails, text messages, social networking web pages, and old-fashioned phone calls.
Whipple is asking people to show up with posters, flags, and banners; and to dress warmly and fabulously, according to QSaltLake.
Salt Lake City protesters will march around the blocks of Temple Square and the Church Office Building. Several speeches are also expected, according to QSaltLake.
The Salt Lake City protest will express solidarity with those who hit the streets in Los Angeles yesterday and Wednesday. Yesterday, as many as 3,000 (by some estimates) marched around the Los Angeles temple, the largest temple in the church, decrying the role Mormons played in the passage of the amendment.
Outside the temple his father helped build, Kai Cross joined more the other gay-rights advocates in a chorus of criticism of the church's role in the likely passage of a statewide ban on same-sex marriage, CBS News reports.
Once a devout Mormon who graduated from Brigham Young University, the 41-year-old Cross was disowned by his family and his church after he was outed as a gay man in 2001.
"They are on the losing side of history," Cross said Thursday of the church's opposition to gay marriage. Cross and other protesters blame leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for encouraging Mormons to funnel millions of dollars into television ads and mailings in favor of Proposition 8.
Whipple, of Salt Lake City, told Salt Lake Tribune that he hopes his fellow Utahns will demonstrate their solidarity with Californians. "We want to show we share their pain, and here, at the heart of the church, we want to stab it," he said.
Whipple said that not since the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City have gays and lesbians as a community stood up for their rights in a determined way.
"Our Pride Parades are an event, not a protest. Our court battles are fought by few while we watch from the comfort of our living rooms. Our petitions we sign while shopping online," he said. "Society as a whole underestimates us. They underestimate our size. They underestimate our determination. They underestimate our conviction. They underestimate our power. Now is the time that we need to remind them."
Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center, told Salt Lake Tribune that her organization would "absolutely" be there to stand with others.
"Millions in California, including our friends and families, stood up and voted for equality while the LDS Church stood for discrimination," she said. "Friday's message will be one of hope for steady progress towards equality and fairness - a message everyone can believe in."
Source: Prop 8 backlash: Gay marriage backers to protest outside Salt Lake LDS Temple | Salt Lake Tribune
Protest Against Proposition 8 to Target Temple Square | QSaltLake.com
Prop. 8 Protests Head To Salt Lake City | CBS News
Prop. 8 protesters plan demonstration at Temple Square | KSL