The previous post was my moderator post. This is my personal opinion post.
I'm extremely disappointed that Prop 8 is passing. This is more significant than the other two state constitutional amendments that banned gay marriage last night because this reverses California state policy on marriage. There are many, many happily married gay couples living in California who now don't know if their marriages are still legal. Couples have been placed in a bizarre limbo-- which has to be a bad deja vu for some couples in San Francisco. To me, this is just cruel.
As for the funding from the Mormon church, it did not come directly from the Church. It came from individual church members and thus gets around the tax exempt status of a church and the limits that puts on political activities.
I'm bothered that the vast majority of the funding for Yes on 8 came from outside the state of California. I'm not sure it is right for the citizens of Utah to have that much say in what happens in California. At the same time, I'm in no position to talk as I donated to No on 8 and I don't live in California either. But, on a philosophical level, I question whether state issues should take funding from out of state.
I agree with Jamie-- this is a national issue. I believe it will be settled the same way interracial marriage was settled. The federal supreme court will, eventually, make gay marriage legal because it is discriminatory. Freedom of religion, one of the most basic and scared rights in this country, cannot exist without freedom from religion. The only arguments against gay marriage are based in religion (as were the arguments against interracial marriage). Many Americans were not ready to accept interracial marriage when the supreme court ruled (and the story of the couple that triggered that ruling-- Virginians-- is a compelling and heart breaking story-- look it up, the Washington Post ran it earlier this year). But fair is fair (as any five year old can tell you) and in Muppetdom we accept you as you are-- frog, pig, explosives maniac, or whatever.