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  1. To bring this a bit into the current debates, I find it rather sad that the Mormon church of all people put so much money into this attack. It really wasn’t all that long ago that the Mormons were hunted by the US Army and killed just for being Mormons. You’d think they’d have learned how important the protection of personal choice is.

    Fortunately, there is a backlash brewing in the Mormon community, and not just from Mormons who feel same-sex marriage is ‘okay.’ There is a growing anger with the way the Elders managed the tithes in this case, as well as those Mormons who feel this was an inappropriate issue for the Church to get involved with. There are many who feel that this puts the Church’s tax-exempt status at risk… and wouldn’t you know it, that’s the very thing that many are going after. And frankly I can’t blame them, and I encourage them to do so. If they’re going to get involved in politics at a Federal level (crossing state boundaries) then the Federal government has the right to tax them. And those tithes, that 10% given to the Church, is a huge amount of income….

    On a more practical note, much of the attacks on same-sex marriage are designed to involve the undecided listener. ‘It will destroy marriage/society/civilization!’ for example. The people who are dead-set against it already feel that it’s wrong, and won’t give any more detailed answer than ‘it’s wrong’ when questioned. They don’t need a more involved answer. They don’t want a more involved answer.

    Logic will not move the die-hards who are against same-sex marriage. All that can be done with logic against them is to back them into a corner where they cannot talk their way out of it without looking like hypocrites and idiots. The ‘undecideds’ and the ones who are inwardly ambivalent about the subject, they’re the ones to whom rational argument might work. But as we’ve seen, they’re just as susceptible to emotional argument as well.

    To me, using emotional arguments is ‘cheating’ in a way, but there’s no way around that. The opponents of same-sex marriage have already proven that they’re willing to commit to a ‘scorched mind’ strategy. Having the moral high ground doesn’t do much good when the ground has been scoured and salted. But maybe that’s just a touch of bitterness I have towards the Prop8 proponents.

    Frankly, and finally, there’s really only one response to the person who says ‘I am friends with plenty of gay people, BUT….’ And that response is, ‘Then you’re not much of a friend if you don’t want to see them happy, are you?’

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