8: The Mormon Proposition 2010

As California’s Proposition 8 faltered in the polls, a clarion call went out from Salt Lake City, resonating with millions of Mormons worldwide. Thomas S. Monson, the revered Mormon Prophet, issued an edict that contained a cryptic message, reminiscent of the sacred temple ceremony. This coded summons mobilized Mormon faithfuls across America and beyond to take decisive action in ensuring Proposition 8’s passage. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of Mormons funneled thirty million dollars into California’s political coffers, fueling the anti-gay marriage initiative.

Prior to their involvement, evangelicals struggled to gain traction in the fight against same-sex marriage. However, with the Mormons’ entry into the fray, the campaign gained momentum and fervor. The Mormon Church, boasting a formidable media machine, unleashed a barrage of misleading television and radio advertisements, coupled with door-to-door canvassing efforts by the National Organization for Marriage.

As Proposition 8 narrowly passed in California, Mormons were quick to claim credit for their role in its success. However, when backlash from the LGBT community targeted Mormon temples nationwide, the Church was swift to protest that they themselves were being persecuted. Meanwhile, documentary producer Reed Cowan (no relation) had been secretly gathering recordings, documents, and footage exposing the Mormon Church’s efforts to suppress rights for all LGBT individuals worldwide.

“I am appalled,” Cowan reveals, “knowing a church that once practiced polygamy would become so vehemently opposed to any form of alternative marriage.” The documentary ‘8: The Mormon Proposition’ chronicles the stories of numerous same-sex couples seeking marriage equality. One such couple is Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones, whose family history is deeply intertwined with the early days of Mormonism.

The Barrick-Jones family’s story is a poignant reminder that the ghosts of their ancestors – who were once forced to flee from state to state due to their own unconventional marital practices – now haunt the very fabric of American society. As the couple navigates the treacherous landscape of discrimination and intolerance, they find themselves at odds with the same religion that had once driven their forebears into exile.

As Barrick-Jones’s tears fell like rain, the anguish was palpable: ‘Why would our own people, the Mormons, do this to us? Why turn their backs on us?’ The pain of betrayal lingers, a festering wound that refuses to heal. 8: The Mormon Proposition exposes a decades-long campaign of calculated oppression, targeting not only those who dare to advocate for marriage equality but also those who fall prey to the Church’s twisted practices within its own ranks.

The documentary delves into the dark underbelly of BYU men subjected to barbaric treatments like electric shock therapy and frontal lobotomies by Mormon security police. For the first time in history, it takes on record the alleged clandestine meetings between Prophet Spencer W. Kimball and a secret group of gay BYU students who whispered their secrets under the guise of ‘Spencer’s boys.’ The film chronicles the heartbreaking stories of hundreds of gay-Mormon suicides, including that of Stuart Matis, who took his own life on the steps of a California Mormon Church as another brick was laid in the wall of discrimination during California’s Proposition 8 debacle.

As 8: The Mormon Proposition neared completion, it had already garnered significant international attention. Reed Cowan sat down with Mormon Bishop and Senator D. Chris Buttars, who likened gay people to radical Muslims, proclaiming them ‘the greatest threat to America going down today.’ The ensuing backlash was swift and merciless, as Buttars’s characterization of gay individuals engaging in what he dubbed ‘pig sex’ sparked an HRC action alert and a scathing rebuke from GLAAD. His ousting from his position as chair of Utah’s Senate Judiciary Committee was the inevitable consequence.

The fallout from Buttars’s interview with Cowan for 8: The Mormon Proposition created a media firestorm, with major outlets like FORBES, THE WASHINGTON POST, and THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW devoting considerable coverage to the controversy. The response was overwhelming, with thirty thousand emails flooding the Utah Senate President’s inbox and crashing the state legislature’s computer server for three days.

The documentary also sheds light on the harsh realities faced by Utah’s gay homeless youth. Shockingly, it reveals that the majority of the hundreds of homeless teens roaming Utah’s streets are LGBT individuals who have been cast out by their families after coming to terms with their sexuality, forced to fend for themselves in a world that seems determined to reject them.

As the story unfolds, revealing the Mormon Church’s precarious position on losing its tax-exempt status, “8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION” serves as a clarion call to action not only for members of the LGBTQ+ community, but for all individuals and citizens everywhere. It is an urgent appeal to stand up for fundamental human rights and, more crucially, to scrutinize the flow of money and information behind any ballot measure that gains rapid momentum and intense fervor. The stakes are high, as this documentary powerfully illustrates.

According to Reed Cowan’s candid assessment, “8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION” meticulously records one of the most egregious instances of election manipulation in American history. If the Mormon Church is allowed to escape accountability for its actions, it will set a perilous precedent, enabling other groups to purchase votes and perpetuate their so-called “secret combinations,” thereby threatening the very fabric of our society. It is an intolerable scenario that must never be repeated.