Pyrrhic victory

The leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) thought that their support for Proposition 8 in California would consolidate the Church's moral teaching and that by fighting alongside conservative Catholics and fundamentalist Evangelicals they would come a few steps closer to the desired ideal of being perceived as a mainstream Christian denomination.


What happened instead was that quite a few devout Mormons came out strongly in defense of a Mormon principle spelled out in one of the standard works of the Church: "We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government." Moreover, the Church is now under spotlight for the way it has been treating sexual minorities throughout its 20th century history, from aversion therapy (with electric shocks and all) to excommunications to Prop 8. They did not see the backlash coming in these latter days.

For more information and relevant up-to-date resources, have a look at Signing for Something, Mormons for Marriage and Seeking Forgiveness.