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Mormon
Prop 8 documentary opens
, 365gay.com
06.18.2010 2:30pm EDT
06.18.2010 2:30pm EDT
Before
researching a documentary on something else entirely, Reed Cowan had no
idea how influential the Mormon Church was in the Prop 8 elections.
But
while speaking to homeless teens in Salt Lake City, he learned that
most of them had been kicked out of their homes for being gay because
the Church of Latter Day Saints preached to their families that
homosexuality was wrong.
And when Proposition 8, which banned gay
marriage, was voted into law, Cowan realized that the church was not
only affecting the lives of the thousands of homeless youth in Utah , but also
millions of voters in California.
He
decided to shift his focus and concentrate on Prop 8, which according
to Cowan was a symptom of the same “hatred spilling out from the pulpit”
that was leading to gay youth homelessness in Utah. In an interview
with 365gay.com last week, he made it clear that his film was a comment
on the organization and leadership of the Mormon Church, not necessarily
the individuals who are a part of it.
Cowan and his team
uncovered hundreds of documents from the leadership of the church,
exposing its influence on the proposition debate. Letters from Mormon
leaders explained that because the national public had a very negative
impression of the Mormon Church, they would have to run their campaign
through front groups, such as The National Organization for Marriage .
The
Church flooded these front groups with funding and volunteers, sending
mailings and canvassers all over California to persuade voters to vote
for Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would amend the California
constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Prop
8 passed in the November 2008 election – in large part, says Cowan,
because of the behind-the-scenes contributions from the Mormon Church.
“Only
3 percent of Californians are Mormon, yet three-quarters of the money
put into Prop 8 came from Mormons,” said Cowan. “Proposition 8 was the
most expensive ballot measure in the history of the United States.
Voters have a right to know who is behind a measure when it picks up
uncommon speed and heat and money three months before they cast that
sacred, sacred vote, not three months after.”
In the film, Cowan
interviews ex-Mormons who explain how the church pressured them and
their families to donate to the campaign for Prop 8. He found that
gathering Mormons and ex-Mormons for interviews was easy.
“They
came out of the woodwork. They lined up around the corner, people coming
in crying telling their stories. They wanted to go on the record that
they were hurt and they were hurting,” Cowan said.
Getting them to
leave was the hard part.
“About halfway through the day, people
wouldn’t leave after their interview. They wanted to pull up a chair and
listen to the other interviews. It was like a family was born that
day. There was a commonality that was quite remarkable.”
Cowan
was guided in making the film by his own personal story.
“I knew
what it was like to be that 14-year-old kid sitting in the pews and
hearing homosexuality being compared to the sin of murder, and I knew
what it’s like to go home and think, ‘How can I commit suicide in a way
that won’t hurt and how can I do it in a way that will look like an
accident so it won’t hurt my mom and dad,’ and I know that there are a
lot of other kids who are like that.”
“Look, there’s a body count
to the bigotry,” said Cowan, referring to the high rates of gay teen
suicide within the Mormon community, “and we’re heartbroken over it.”
While
this group of Mormon-affiliated individuals who opposed the Latter Day
Saints’ views on homosexuality gathered to testify in Cowan’s film, few
stood up to the church directly. A small group of Mormons organized to
send petitions to Church leadership demanding that the church stop
intervening in Proposition 8.
Cowan’s family did not join these
petition organizers.
“I have one sister who said to me, ‘It was
the prophet who did Proposition 8 because the prophet speaks for God and
if he told me to paint myself orange and cut my arm off, I would,’”
said Cowan.
While Cowan’s mother accepted his homosexuality to
some extent, she could not accept his film criticizing her religion,
especially after the repeated harassment she and Cowan’s other relatives
faced from the Mormon Church and members of the community.
“This
film dropped a nuclear bomb on my family relationships. I felt like they
got us, and then the minute we got critical of their religion, they
completely saw us as the enemy and that’s heartbreaking,” he said, “but
they’ll come around. I hope.”
Other Mormon responses to the film
referred to the personal tragedy Cowan faced when his son died in a
deadly accident four years ago at a relative’s house.
“I have
heard from Mormons who have shocked me by going for the jugular and
saying your son was taken from you because you chose to be a faggot. You
will never see him again, burn in hell.”
But Cowan said responses
to the film haven’t been all negative.
“We have also had Mormons
stand up in the audience, enlightened, saying, ‘I didn’t know the extent
to which my church was involved and I am going to join the chorus of
Mormons who are going to call for change.’ I am thankful for that, those
are victories.”
