The Double Standard of Homosexuals

Some examples of this double standard are:

If someone murders a homosexual - there is a national outcry for "hate crimes", however if a homosexual murders someone else, there is sadly a deafening silence. Murder is tragic, but murder is murder. Increased penalties for attacking one group and less penalties for another group is unequal protection under the law. This sadly is one of the double standards.

"On November 21, William Smithson (a homosexual), 43, of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2006 strangulation murder of 23-year-old Jason Shephard. Smithson, a homosexual, murdered Shephard after slipping him GHB, a date rape drug, then hid the body in the basement of his home.

... it is ironic that homosexuals used the murder ten years ago of Matthew Shepherd to push for hate crimes laws -- yet remain largely silent about the murder of Jason Shephard."[It's] a true double standard, because Jason Shephard's murder has been under the radar screen -- and basically, unless you're in Pennsylvania monitoring this kind of stuff, you don't hear about it," says Gramley. "But Matthew Shepherd? Everyone in the country knows who Matthew Shepherd is."

Gramley points out homosexual activists claim Matthew Shepherd was targeted because he was homosexual. But ABC News later revealed that Matthew Shepherd was the victim of a botched robbery -- a finding the media has largely ignored. ... She cites two other murders committed by homosexual men that met with relative silence in the homosexual community -- the murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising in Arkansas in 1999, and the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz in Chicago." -OneNewsNow

Homosexuals can NOT be targeted because as a special group with special rights any crime against them is a "hate crime" - however homosexual advocates CAN targeted other people simply because they are part of a group (i.e. Mormon). There haven't been reports of other backlashes against other groups that supported Prop 8, (i.e. African-Americans and other churches and religious denominations) and turned out in heavy numbers to vote yes on Prop 8. Seventy percent of black voters, more than half of Latino voters, and about two-thirds of Christians, and married voters and parents also showed strong support of Prop 8. The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Church and evangelical groups in the state also urged for a ban on gay marriage.

So why is the Mormon Church their only target of anger? and why is this not a "hate crime"? - yet another double standard.

Here are some examples of how gays are targeting Mormons:

• A lawsuit by Fred Karger, homosexual activist, claims that the Mormons violated election laws in California.

• Richard Raddon, director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, was forced to resign when it was discovered he contributed $1,500 to support Prop 8.

• Homosexual groups are calling for the revocation of tax-exempt status.

• In the nearly four weeks since Election Day, gay activists and thousands of their supporters have rallied outside Mormon temples around the country, protesting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' support for California's Proposition 8.

• There have been calls to boycott the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah "Anyone who attends Sundance is quite literally funding the enemy," Gay activist John Aravosis, editor of Americablog.com wrote.

• Some activists have called for a boycott of tourism and skiing as well as anything in the entire "Hate State of Utah."

• Protesters have defaced some church buildings, and in Arapaho County, Colo., the Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible hate crime — the torching of the Book of Mormon on a church's doorstep.

• Californians Against Hate also has called on gay-marriage supporters to boycott A-1 Storage facilities around the state because the business's owner gave more than $700,000 to the Yes on 8 cause.

• For more examples, Google "Mormons prop 8."

Why this hatred? First, opponents criticize the Church for donating money directly to the “yes on 8” campaign.

"This claim is false. Records filed with the State of California indicate that the Church did not make any contributions with the exception of an "in kind" contribution (non monetary) for travel expenses for a single general authority. All other LDS-related money was contributed by Church members individually, not by the Church." from: Meridian Magazine

Secondly, critics are upset and claim that members of the Church outside of California contribute financially to the “yes on 8" campaign, and this involvement of people outside of California was wrong.

	In-State Donations	Out-of-State Donations	Total Donations
For Proposition 8	$25,388,955	$10,733,582	$36,122,538
Against Proposition 8	$26,464,589	$11,968,285	$38,432,873
Totals	$51,853,544	$22,701,867	$74,555,411
Source: Tracking the money, Los Angeles Times

Advocates of gay marriage are upset because members of the Mormon church who didn't live in California became involved financially with this Proposition. However advocates of gay marriage are happy to accept contributions from opponents on 8 that also did NOT live in California. Their thoughts "Supporters for Prop 8 shouldn't be able to contribute money for Prop 8 if they don't live in California however if you Oppose Prop 8 then you CAN contribute money against the Prop 8 even if you don't live in California..." again another double standard - don't you think??

A third claim is that the Church violated its tax-exempt status by participating in the “Yes on 8" campaign.

"According to IRS rules, a tax-exempt organization may not support particular candidates or parties. However, the church did not participate in or intervene in any of the political campaigns for any of the candidates running in the 2008 election. The IRS does, however, permit a Church to take positions on issues." from: Meridian Magazine

Critics then claim that Church owned companies violated contribution rules.

"Companies that are owned by the Church, such as Bonneville Communications, are in business to make a profit. These businesses pay their taxes just like any other business: They are not part of the tax-exempt portion of the Church. They have the same opportunities and rights to act in this manner as any other tax paying entities in our country." from: Meridian Magazine

Another claim is that:

"contributions by Church members were unfairly considered tax deductible. This is patently false. California members who chose to donate to the Prop 8 campaign were explicitly told that their donations would not be tax deductible. None of the funds donated to the campaign are allowed as deductions." from: Meridian Magazine

So all of these claims are false, yet still the question remains -why is the Mormon Church the only target - why are the Mormons the scapegoat for the homosexual's anger and frustration? and how is it any different than any other 'hate crime".... advocates claim it is different because of money...

"It's because of the money, says Evan Wolfe, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based group that supports same-sex marriage.

"The Mormon Church hierarchy led the way on this attack on gay families and the California constitution," Wolfe said. "They provided more than half of the funding. They provided the ground troops and were a major political force in a way that no other group was.

"It's not like there's one centralized voice telling everyone whom to protest. People have their own reactions to what they see with their own eyes, and what they saw here was a $40 million deceptive campaign to take away rights, led by the Mormon Church hierarchy."

Lorri Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, wrote on the organization's Web site that she doesn't blame African-Americans or minority groups for the passage of Prop. 8.

"We have been critical of all of the out-of-state conservative religious groups that made significant contributions to the campaign, including the Knights of Columbus National Headquarters in Connecticut and Focus on the Family in Colorado. But the truth is that the LDS church leadership in Utah specifically directed its membership to get involved with the Yes campaign in an unprecedented way — both in terms of volunteer time and dollars," Jean wrote.

"The campaign they funded was one of lies and deceit, clearly in violation of the religious tenet of “thou shalt not lie.” ....

Mormon voters themselves had little effect on the ballot initiative's outcome, simply because the Mormon population is small in California. There are only about 750,000 Mormons in the state, about 2 percent of its 38 million residents.

But over 59,000 Mormon families contributed to the Yes on 8 effort, Karger said. "Without the Mormon money it would have been a very different campaign"." -from: FoxNews

The point is people (even people of faith) are free to support or oppose whatever legislation they want and they can contribute whatever amount they want to... like it or not same-sex marriage advocates: It is still a free country.

People of faith are citizens of the United States and still have a democratic right to express their views in the public square without fear of reprisal. Efforts to force people of faith out of public discussion with the violence and threats that are currently being made by homosexual advocates should be deplored by people of goodwill everywhere.