Mormon support of gay marriage ban ignites vigil

When Mormons light their massive and colorful Christmas displays tonight on the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds, thousands of candles may burn across the street in a vigil in Pioneer Park.

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Vigil organizers call it a demonstration of solidarity for gays and lesbians seeking full civil rights. They say their vigil was precipitated by Mormons' staunch opposition to same-sex marriage with passage of amendments to constitutions in Arizona, California and Florida in the Nov. 4 general election.

"We are not going to march. It is not a protest. We will have our candles," said an organizer, Robert Parker, an outspoken gay Mormon from Mesa. Parker hopes to get 5,000 people to assemble in the park "to stand in solidarity with gay Mormons who are stuck in the closet and need to know that we are working to help secure their civil rights."

The dollars and votes of Mormons are viewed by the gay community as the deciding force for passage of state ballot propositions to amend constitutions to limit marriage to one man and one women.

Mormons contributed about $3 million of the $8 million raised in the "Yes on 102" campaign to amend the Arizona Constitution, according to media reports. That proposition won with 56.2 percent approval. In California, where the state Supreme Court had ruled May 15 that gays and lesbians could legally marry, a fierce battle was waged over Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. It won with 52.3 percent. The Los Angeles Times estimated that about $20 million of the $35.8 million raised in support of Proposition 8 came from Mormons. More than $37 million was spent in California to oppose the amendment.

"We find it surprising that our church has been singled out" for harsh criticism, said Don Evans, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona. "This constitutional amendment was supported by the Catholic Church, which is far and away the largest church in Arizona, and it was also supported by the various evangelical congregations."

All of those churches consistently opposed same-sex marriages, but "our church has taken the lion's share of the protest," Evans said.

Parker said he hopes that most of the 4,000 who took part Saturday in a march from Phoenix City Hall to the state Capitol will turn out in Mesa today.

It has been spontaneously coming together through a flurry of e-mails, blogs, texting, MySpace, FaceBook and other communications, said Annie Loyd, a community organizer, who has helped to plan today's event.

"So many people were going to go out there on their own, and with our being community organizers, we believe we have a responsibility to do what we can to provide safety and encourage people to stay peaceful and calm and reduce any potential conflict that might occur," Loyd said. No speeches are planned, and signs will be minimal, Parker said, adding that event permits were being obtained from the city.

The group will begin gathering at 5 p.m. today with the vigil 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, at the south side of the visitors center on the temple grounds, ceremonies to kick off the 29th annual Mesa Temple Garden Lights display will begin at 7 p.m., with Brooke White, a 2008 "American Idol" finalist, pushing the switch that will bathe the gardens in colorful lights. The lights will be ablaze nightly through Jan. 1.

With the Mormons turning on their lights, "it seemed like the perfect time to light candles for our friends," said Parker, who believes Mormons have known discrimination and hostilities in its 180-year history and should not be turning it on gays. "What they say is they love us, but we are not allowed to have companionship or express ourselves in any sexual way. We can't hold hands, we can't kiss, we can't do any of those kinds of things because they would be expressions of love."

The recent passage of the amendments, he said, has brought a new sense of hopelessness to gay Mormons. "Now that they've spent so much money to pass these amendments, people lose hope," Parker said. "When they lose hope, they kill themselves."

He said in the past week alone, he had learned of three gay Mormon men who committed suicide and two others who attempted it. A young gay Mormon in Illinois took his life after learning how much his parents had done to support the marriage amendments, Parker said.

"They had a lot at stake in this election," he said. "The Mormon money was what put it over. If it hadn't been for the Mormon money, they would not have won in Arizona and California.

"Unlike other protests and rallies around Mormon temples around the nation," Parker said, "this one is the first candlelight, quiet, respectful vigil in support of our gay Mormon brothers and sisters who have been so hurt by the church's involvement in this politically."

Parker believes Mormons have put so much into the cause of one-man, one-woman marriage "to get away from that old bugaboo of polygamy" that has continued to dog the church's public perception. Even almost 120 years after their prophet Wilford Woodruff issued a manifesto calling on members to no longer enter into plural marriage, that former practice continues to be raised about the church. But Evans said the Mormon Church has consistently advocated traditional marriage, including the 1995 manifesto "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."

He said church leaders won't alter their holiday lighting ceremonies today.

"We will just go ahead," he said. "If they are going to hold their candlelight vigil, so be it, and we will go ahead and turn the lights on."