Politics | 11/26/2008 7:45 am

California to Investigate Mormon's Resources in Gay Marriage Fight

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

The Mormon Church led the fight for Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that overturned California’s gay marriages, but their efforts may not have been on the up and up. Investigators in the Golden State are currently looking into whether the Utah-based Church failed to report nonmonetary contributions to their cause, including phone banks and commercials.

The church filed a report of only $5,000 in contributions, which raised activist Fred Karger’s eyebrows and led him to file an official complaint. Obviously intrigued by the allegations, Roman Porter, who heads the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, decided to begin the investigation. He’s clear, however, that this process is not “a determination on the validity of the claims or the culpability of the individuals.”

Mormon officials won’t comment on the specific allegations, but promised their full cooperation. If found guilty in this case, the Church could face fines of $5,000 for each violation, and even more if this goes into civil courts.

68 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Ro, It isn’t exclusively the persistent gay and lesbian bashing, that is occurring more frequently on this site, that rubs me the wrong way—these types of people are a dime a dozen and are easy enough to ignore. No, what infuriates me is that wOw is allowing this type of garbage to continue. I thought this site was created to strengthen, encourage, and guide women ages 40+. The site’s purpose is becoming more difficult to discern by the day. The acceptance here of what is considered reasonable and evenhanded is beyond me.

By Serena . on 11/30/2008 4:46 pm

e-mail alert

Serena, They have disagreed with you and other gay poster’s in relationship to the passing of prop 8. All done with “NO” bashing. Other’s opinions may be garbage to you, but not to various other poster’s on here. So by you expecting WoW to somehow extinguish oppossing views to your’s and other gay folk’s on here is absolutely childish at the very least. The WoW founders are not here for you to run to because someone disagrees with your’s or others opinions. The requirements for WoWer’s is no name calling (to which many of the gay posters have done to those of us who have disagreed with their opinion’s) excessive swear words,ect. There are other rules as well…….But, oppossing comments is certainly not one of them.

By HA BIBI on 11/30/2008 9:09 pm

e-mail alert

$5,000 in contributions? Give me a break!

By Belinda Joy on 11/26/2008 4:13 pm

e-mail alert

Ro Hansen adds to interest, “…that want equal rights to every other citizen in this country.” Gays do enjoy equal rights. All of us enjoy the same constitutional guarantees, least those our government allows us to enjoy. Ability to marry is not a constitutional guarantee. However, there is case precedent related to gay marriage. This is the famous Loving versus Virginia Supreme Court decision knocking down laws against interracial marriage. This is only forty years or so back in time, about the time my peoples were finally given a right to vote. I believe this Loving case does set precedence favoring gay marriage and I believe America is not quite ready for this. Nonetheless, gays are not being denied any constitutional rights. There are ample legal means to guarantee “civil union” rights which are no different than classic marriage rights. This is an argument all about symbolism. Gays are working to earn a marriage certificate symbol which is a conceptual notion only; a piece of paper to show off. Rather meaningless, really; marriage is of the heart, not of a legal document. Proposition 8, like the “amendment 2” up in Colorado, will probably be ruled unconstitutional. This only defeats a proposition. This does not make legal gay marriage. Problem I have is gays taking to the streets in protest which truly only serves to annoy the majority. These protests do not serve a good purpose rather serve to defeat the agenda of gays. A better route would be to simply contest these issues in court, according to law. Street protests will not change legal issues and going after the Mormon church is certainly not helping. Elaine comments for readers, “You are waring over verbage and verbage only and that makes your argument to me, invalid.” Clearly I both agree with and support Elaine on this. There is no issue on denial of rights, this is an issue of symbolism: marriage. Reality is a majority of Americans are not ready for gay marriage. This is to be respected. Under our democratic system, majority rules. Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

By Okpulot Taha on 11/26/2008 11:10 pm

e-mail alert

It has been a long day, and I am tired. I only wanted to stop for a moment, here I am some time much later than I wished. Aw, I can’t. Suffice that gay people do not have all the same rights as heterosexuals. In terms of civil rights, as a culture, we are diminished in various ways simply because our sexuality. His\herstorically, gays and lesbians have been treated with disdain, disregard, and disenfranchised from having equal partnerships to those who marry. Domestic partnership is not quite the same, and is definitely not viewed as equal to marriage. How is that having equal rights? Civil Unions as I understand them, still doesn’t give full benefits to the couples as does Marriage. I may be mistaken, in any case, it appears that some glbt people just do not want to be discriminated against. You may simply believe since there are laws for most every situation it is just the way it is. I believe some of those same laws are unfair, partial and biased, and hurtful to a segment of the population. You may believe I do not need to marry someone whom I love, and that I should just marry someone because society deems it thusly, and I have to accept whatever options are provided me. What if I choose to be with someone whom I have a deep abiding love, and we end up with children, and our children are school age. Given the fact that the children are in a healthy environment, no abuse taking place, no negative consequences because of the relationship. Given all that information: What if one of us should end up dying after 10 years of ‘partnership’ and the children are with the partner who does not have legal custody, although that one has also been very involved in raising the children. What should happen to the children, then? Should they be put in foster homes because the State does not approve of our relationship, and we don’t have legal rights? If there is no other family for the children, should they just become a part of the “system” because they don’t have legal rights, either? Where is the logic in that? Whether or not YOU believe the relationship was healthy from the beginning, it has been a positive, loving relationship for the children. So, do they suffer also because YOU don’t agree with me or my lifestyle?

By Ro H on 11/28/2008 2:07 am

e-mail alert

“… but their efforts may not have been on the up and up.” MAY not have been? Any time one group consciously seeks to oppress another due to asinine prejudice, I can asure you that their efforts are not going to be on the up and up.

By Serena . on 11/28/2008 7:20 am

e-mail alert

assure … not asure …

By Serena . on 11/28/2008 7:22 am

e-mail alert

Serena, LOL assure is that like assume? Did we make an ass of hure? Sorry, I thought a little levity would be nice. I tried to re-read the garbage from MISS whats’ername! and, couldn’t get past the “You shoulds, You woulds You coulds” and so on. For someone who does not care about my sexuality she sure does invest a lot of energy in putting it down, and fighting against, and attempting to continue to diminish my worth because of my sexuality. MISS because you are a part of the majority, you still get to LORD it over me and others like me from your “on high” pedestals. However, in the end I know that God loves me JUST the way I am. “Get ye behind me [MISS] satan!”

By Ro H on 11/28/2008 8:32 pm

e-mail alert

Awwww Ro I see you’re having a hissy fit, no one told you to do anything. and again I know you hate it that I don’t care if you’re gay, but I don’t! it is you that continues to carry on and it is you that continues to post to me, not the other way around. Now if you’re certain that God loves you the way you are then why the hissy fits and name calling. Are you having doubts. Oh, and I’m a Mrs.

By HA BIBI on 11/28/2008 9:38 pm

e-mail alert

Ro writes, “What if one of us should end up dying after 10 years of ‘partnership’ and the children are with the partner who does not have legal custody….” There are ample means to address these types of issues. Upon adoption of a child, if both names of “partners” are on the paperwork, this is no longer an issue. Same is true for title to real property just as an estate can be willed to any person or persons. There are ample legal safeguards to address these issues. You only need to exercise those legal safeguards. Turning your logic around, people who divorce or lose a spouse through death, can face the same issue regarding child custody. A woman divorces her no-count husband, remarries, then dies. Who enjoys legal custody of her child or children? Rather clear, her former husband. These issues you iterate are no different than what straight couples face. Rather than spend your efforts demanding marriage rights, you would do better to exercise your legal rights, first, then take to fighting for your idealistic cause; have your own house in order before arranging houses of others. Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation

By Okpulot Taha on 11/29/2008 2:45 pm

e-mail alert

Exercise your legal rights. Have your own house in order before arranging house of others. You got that right! Elaine is correct in regards to people not really caring if one is gay or straight and California voted. California the most liberal of all states. I’ve talked to about five older gay friends about “the vote” and I was really surprise by their response. I am sure many lesbians are not going to like this. Why do I say lesbians because most gay men really do not need a piece of paper to validate a relationship. It’s not a big deal and I am surprise to hear that from gay men. The gay men I’ve talked just think it’s a lesbian thing nothing more. There are legal rights and both Okpulot and Elaine gave a good outline about them. However, just because Ro for example doesn’t agree with it does not make it less valid. Back in 2004 I was in San Fran. I recalled one of the first lesbian couples who got married recently got divorced. I think the marraige lasted less than 2 years. Now one may wonder why did that make news? Well the couple got backlashed from the gay community because by getting a divorce so quickly it demonstrated that gay couples do not take their vows seriously. And Ro if you were wondering that shared one child. Now some may wonder well straight couples get divorce all the time. That’s true however if the gay community is going to make a stand about marraige and kids well then the gay community needs to prove that they will take that stand seriously. I heard that comment a lot while I was a participant in the AIDS Walk in San Fran. If you are shouting at church goers, attacking groups and hanging mannequins that look like Gov. Palin then how is that good illustration of the gay community. Think about it. I took a psychology of sex class in college and one of the topics discussed had to deal with homosexuality. The teacher expressed from her studies that one is either born gay or is gay due to the environmental surroundings. I used to think that one is just born gay however now as I get older I can see where she is coming from. If one thinks that homosexuality is because of environmental surroundings only then it is based on a choice of lifestyle. If one thinks that homosexuality is somehting that one is born with then it is not just a lifestyle choice. That could explain why Californians voted the way they did. When you are born you do not have the right to choose your race be it Asian, Hispanic, Native American for example. If you are born Asian well then you are born Asian. Some may argue about being born homosexual and that even includes those in the gay community which I find really confusing. Let me stress that the gay men I’ve talked to only believe that marraige is essential if you want to have kids. “If you want to have kids then you better make it work for the sake of the kid. It’s not just about getting the benefits” as one of my neighbor recently stated to me. So there you go and let me stress I am sure most lesbians will have a hissy fit. However most gay men will not. Hopefully this post was somewhat informative. Just giving a different viewpoint and plus the fact that my male gay friends really felt that I should post this. The reason given from them that it would be a stronger stance/wake up call coming from a straight girl from the straight world looking into the gay community as oppose to the gay community looking out into the straight world. In other words, a wake up call. Take care.

By T P on 11/30/2008 12:33 am

e-mail alert

Tanja Pineda, I can relate to your argument regarding gay men. That is not however, a universal point of view. As far as divorces, I also concur with the fact that if a gay or lesbian couple are only doing this for publicity, or some such thing, it needs to stop. I believe marriage in any form should be a lifetime committment. We can agree on this one issue. I simply believe in our society all people should have the right to be married, if they so choose. I further believe that any couple, gay/lesbian or straight, should go to marriage counseling before getting married. It would ultimately help alleviate many, many divorces. It would most likely prevent many, many marriages as well.

By Ro H on 11/30/2008 4:59 am

e-mail alert

By Ro H on 11/30/2008 4:59 am

e-mail alert

There are ample means to address these types of issues. Upon adoption of a child, if both names of “partners” are on the paperwork, this is no longer an issue. Okpulot Taha Choctaw Nation By Okpulot Taha on 11/29/2008 3:45 pm I never mentioned adoption.

By Ro H on 11/30/2008 4:47 am

e-mail alert

“… well here’s what a real Christian would do they would put their foot knee deep in your ass if you so much as thought to disrespect them that way in person…” By Elaine AL Meqdad on 11/28/2008 11:42 am Whatever would Jesus do? Good Christian that you are… you profess to be a follower of the Christ?

By Ro H on 11/29/2008 9:20 pm