Who Tipped The Balance on Prop 8 In California?

The New York Times would like people to believe that the reason that Proposition 8 was passed by a strong majority of Californians has to do with a small minority of religious voters in California. They're placing the blame for the passage on Mormons.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, the chief strategist behind a ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California called an emergency meeting here.

“We’re going to lose this campaign if we don’t get more money,” the strategist, Frank Schubert, recalled telling leaders of Protect Marriage, the main group behind the ban.

The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. The money allowed the drive to intensify a sharp-elbowed advertising campaign, and support for the measure was catapulted ahead; it ultimately won with 52 percent of the vote.

As proponents of same-sex marriage across the country planned protests on Saturday against the ban, interviews with the main forces behind the ballot measure showed how close its backers believe it came to defeat — and the extraordinary role Mormons played in helping to pass itwith money, institutional support and dedicated volunteers.

“We’ve spoken out on other issues, we’ve spoken out on abortion, we’ve spoken out on those other kinds of things,” said Michael R. Otterson, the managing director of public affairs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons are formally called, in Salt Lake City. “But we don’t get involved to the degree we did on this.”

We've seen time and time again how money doesn't always get referendum or voter initiatives passed, and yet the Times singles out a donation from Ashton as the reason? You mean to tell me that $1 million was the reason that the measure won with a 52% majority (which nearly mirrors Obama's win nationally).

That's a most curious position given that it was Obama's own supporters - African Americans that came out in support of the gay marriage ban in sufficient numbers to win passage. Black churches were vociferously against gay marriage, and yet there's little written about that particular fact. 70% of African Americans voted to approve Proposition 8. You think that might be the real reason for its passage, especially by such a wide margin?

The Times shows an incredible amount of gall to claim that the Mormons were responsible for the gay marriage ban being enacted in California.