lunes, 2 de marzo de 2009

Review nº 21

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán
Source: www.nytimes.com
Date of publication: November 14, 2008


Review nº 21: Article ‘Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage’


Same-sex marriage has become an issue of heated debate all around the world. Religious groups defending marriage between man and woman protest against gay marriage, whiel gay people fights for their right to getting marriaged. This issue is discussed in the article ‘Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage’ from the New York Times newspaper.
Frank Schubert, the chief strategist for Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between man and woman, was rising money to intensify the campaign to ban same sex marriage. It rised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. It ultimately won with 52% of the vote. The California measure, Proposition 8, was to many Mormons a kind of firewall to be held at all costs. The campaign was first approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco a few weeks after the legalization of sam-sex marriage in May. The other religious groups that joined the campaign included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties. The group is known as Protect Marriage. Though Mormons were the last major group to join the campaign, the made up more than 80% of the volunteers. Their tasks ranged from “wakers” assignedd to knock on doors; to “sellers”, who would work with undecided votersd later on; and to “closers”, who would get people to the polls on Election Day. Leaders were acutely conscious of not crossing the line from being a church-based volunteer effort to an actual political organization. By mid-October oppponents were still effectively rising money. The response was Mr Schubert desperate e-mail message to the three top religious members of his executive committee. On October Mr. Ashton donated $1million he said he was following his personal beliefs and the direction of the church. Even with the Mormons’ contributions Proposition 8 strategists had to distance themselves from “more extreme elements” opposed to rights for gay and lesbians. To that end, the catholic group rejected efforts by some groups to include a ban on domestic partnership rights. But the “Yes” side also initially faced apathy from unconcerned voters. To counter that, advertisements for the “Yes” campaign also used hypothetical consequences of same-sex marriage, painting the specter of churches’ losng tax exempt status and people. This campaign was denounced by opponents as dishonest and divisive, but the passage of Proposition 8 has led to second-guessing about the “no” campaing, too, as well as talk about a possible ballot measure to repeal the ban. The legality of the same-sex marriages performed from June to Election Day is also questioned.
This article shows the capacity that major religious groups have when joining to fight for a common issue like the protection of marriage. As Michael Otterson, the mormon director of public affairs said: “ it was a matter of standing up for what the church believes is right”. Supporters to same-sex marriage and opponents to it had the same rights to fight for their beliefs. Mormons stated that “It was not their goal in this campaign to attack the homosexual lifestyle or to convince gays and lesbians that their behaviour is wrong – the less we refer to homosexuality, the better”.
To sum up, this article deals with a very controversial issue such as same-sex marriage versus traditional religious marriage. That is the encounter of two opposite groups, religious groups versus gay people. Neither group is wrong on their campaigns because both have rights to fight for their own rights and beliefs. But there is a sense that gay rights will never come to an agreement with religious trends of thought.

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