Mormon Church Fined for Prop 8 Spending :: EDGE Boston.

“The church appreciates the fairness and consideration with which the Fair Political Practices Commission has addressed this oversight,” the statement said. “In the last two weeks leading up to the election, the church mistakenly overlooked the daily reporting requirement and instead reported those contributions together in a later filing.”

The Salt Lake Tribune noted in an online article today that there is a sense that the LDS church has taken a step “back 25 years” with the presentation of general authority Bruce Hafen’s refutation of the causes of homosexuality in last week’s Evergreen conference.

It reminds me of the former Soviet politburo’s denial or whitewashing of events under leaders who had been replaced (due to death or ‘retirement’ of their predecessors). They quickly and quietly used the official news organ Pravda (“truth”) to change history by altering photographs and steadfastly clinging to a new version of events that either removed key participants now out of favor or totally denied any previous actions or policy changes.

By tacitly ignoring recent writings and recordings of LDS leaders under former LDS leader Hinckley — which explained that they generally “don’t know” what causes homosexuality — Elder Hafen has indeed set the clock back.

His explanation that lesbians were abused as children as a cause/effect is pure bullshit. His point that homosexuality is a mental illness that can be modified with “extreme” treatment (would that include the famous BYU “reparation therapy” — that included use of electrodes attached to the genitals to “reward” or “punish” detected arousal as the patients were shown pornography — be included?) is archaic and not based on any currently-accepted psychological or medical research.

This patriarchal attitude that “we have all of the answers”, when LDS history has shown time and again that they didn’t and that they don’t, is indeed a large step backwards.

I feel a dramatic shift — perhaps driven by the fear of losing members’ minds, if not bodies (e.g. attendance and tithing) — as the leadership seeks to re-establish some control over thought and agency. I think this semi-public refutation of Hinckley, Oaks and other LDS leaders who admitted they don’t know what causes homosexuality, is a subtle way to re-establish control that the current leadership feel was lost over the last 10 or 15 years (if Boyd K. Packer doesn’t at some point support Hafen’s position — and probably in general conference next week — I will eat my temple hat).

It also reminds me of how the Bush/Cheney administration quietly sought to bring back the “imperial presidency” lost as part of the post-Watergate backlash.

It really is all about power.

By the way, were does Jesus fit into this equation?

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune ran an article about a photographer whose work was taken down because it portrayed gay BYU students next to one of those who “is supportive” in their life.

After some controversy, administrators allowed them to be rehung, but it’s a clear illustration of the issues that still face BYU students who are gay (and I presume celibate).

The article continues:

“The move disturbed some BYU arts faculty, as well as critics who lit up the blogosphere with renewed allegations that BYU does not tolerate a free exchange of ideas. Within days, officials declared the portraits acceptable for public display and invited [photographer] Wiltbank to rehang them.

The incident illustrates how sensitive the subject of homosexuality is on the BYU campus, particularly at a time when its owner, the Mormon Church, was playing a pivotal role in the divisive fight over California’s Proposition 8, defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Gay students say they sat through religion classes last fall, listening to professors liken the California ballot initiative to God’s war against Satan.

“I have never been comfortable at BYU,” [photographic subject] Embree says. “During the Prop 8 campaign I had to listen to peers talk about homosexuality being the same as a pedophile and an alcoholic.”

Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Someone asked me last night if I had seen an increase in hits on this website since the whole Prop 8 thing had put the church and gays in the spotlight. I shrugged and said that I hadn’t checked.

I did tonight and here are a few high-level stats:

The first month I enabled stats to be recorded:
(this site has been around since 2000)

The last four months:

I guess there is someone reading this. I’d better stay sharp (and thanks to you all!)

Besides the photos I shot at the Protest on Friday night, I shot a few scenes with my little Canon PowerShot A640. Here’s one (if you are bandwidth challenged, you may not want to click below):

video: LDS Prop 8 Protest – Salt Lake City