A sincere thank you...

to Bishop William Weigand, for the following statement:

"Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage--the union of one man and one woman--that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.

The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included--but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.

Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.

As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.

I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints--coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.

I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words--and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8."

Because you highlight some key facts in this whole post-Prop 8 nightmare that are worth mentioning. You rightly highlight the fact that LDS voters were a minimal percentage of those who voted yes on Prop 8 (less than 2%).

I mean, all you opponents may as well spread the hate around right? Attack all of the Catholics and all of the African Americans, etc. who comprised a greater percentage of yes votes. Send them white powder-filled envelopes and protest out in front of their sacred places of worship. Call them bigots and decry their beliefs as hateful and discriminatory. Or wait, don't. Because I don't want any other group to be faced with the kind of treatment that my religion has been subject to.

This whole backlash is giving me quite the headache.

UPDATE: This post is not asserting that all proponents of No on Prop 8 are behaving this way, merely that those who are engaging in this disrespectful behavior are invalidating their side's argument. It's difficult to take people seriously when they engage in the kind of bigotry they accuse their opponents of. And it also bothers me that they are only choosing to target a small piece of the coalition to protect traditional marriage. Just to clarify.