Thanks Sara. I appreciate your call to tolerance.

Thank you Sara. I've been really disturbed by all of the anti-Mormon rhetoric coming out of the gay community. As a gay Mormon, it hurts twice as much. I appreciate your concise call for tolerance. I really do.

Thank you so much!! All the Mormon hate rhetoric does is foreclose any possibility of dialog between gays and Mormons.

Sarah, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the need for tolerance. But my understanding of the protests is that they're addressing the Mormon Church's possible violation of their tax-exempt status.

None of us are telling the Mormons what they should should teach, or whether they should marry us in their temples or not. But the entire coalition of Prop 8 churches are trying to keep us from having CIVIL marriage, which is entirely outside the scope of their teachings and church practice.

Conservative U.S. religions -- and that includes the LDS Church--have to get something through their heads. If they're not prepared to take political heat, they should stay out of the political kitchen. The Mormon Church made a massive step into the kitchen, so they're getting some massive heat. Welcome to the world of politics.

And these churches will certainly not refrain from picketing US when it suits them.

As Serena bravely notes, there are gay mormons. Stop and think about the message we are sending to all the baby queers in the Mormon church. Your church can't stand you, and oh by the way neither can we.

Because our opponents have hardened their hearts does not mean we should. To take and hold the high moral ground, we have to rise above the pettiness and rancor.

The tax exempt argument won't go very far. In the Prop 8 instance none of the churches or religious organizations have taken sides in the election of an identifiable candidate. That is where the absolute prohibition is. They are allowed to attempt to influence legislations providing that such activity does not constitute a substantial part of its activities.

Churches and religious organizations work best when they stick to specifically that, faith. But we can well see that churches and other large religious organizations operate in many ways that are not related to their faith. I mean we have hundreds of years of Catholic history where the church was not only influencing politics, but was a political force unto itself: printing its own currency, waging wars, exacting genocidal ethnic and faith purges, etc.

I believe you have every right to protest a faith organization when that organization steps outside of its bounds and negatively influences people in and out of its faith constituency. We should not allow the Mormon Church, or any church for that matter to leave this battle unscathed by wrapping themselves in a holier-than-thou shroud of untouchability.

The world is not righted by asking for your rights. Equality is won by fighting for them.

Sara I believe freedom of religion stops when someone seeks to make me adhere to their beliefs.If they attempt that I have a constitutional right to smack them upside their head and fully intend to do so wether that be a Mormon,Catholic,Evangelical or even a Baptist.They must be forced to understand their faith stops at preventing us from practicing ours we must shake them to there roots and challenge their having hate crimes protection especially when their the ones committing the hate crime.

I have no plans to attend any protests. In 2004, when Kentucky's doma amendment passed by an 80/20 margin, I didn't see people from California protesting on our behalf. I'm disabled and on crutches right now, anyway.

I don't think protests mean squat, anyway, these days, although I've certainly cheered on the anti=HRC/pro-T protests, as it was the only weapon available. In this case, there are better actions to take. What I want to see - and have spoken to a state legislator about already - is a bill allowing revokation of a church's property tax exemption for use of church funds and use of the pulpit to collect funds for faith-based political activism. It is high time we enforced separation of church and state, and it will be necessary to do that if you want same sex marriage and ENDA laws to pass in more than a couple more states.

Protest if it makes you feel good, but if you aren't talking to your legislators about preventing churches from interfering in matters of state, you ain't doin' nothin'.

I seem to hear an echo in here. "Be tolerant toward the Morman church for their position on Prop 8." "Be tolerant toward HRC for their position on ENDA." No one could convince the trans community to be nice to HRC after the ENDA mess, so would anyone think the entire LGBT community will be nice to the Morman church? The wound in the heart is exactly the same. The reaction to the church falls into the "Duh" catagory.

The point that has been made is that they stopped being a "religion" and became a "political orgainzation" once the hate language came out. Once the money flowed into California. Once they strong-armed their people into donating until it hutrs. We have to fight hate where ever it appears. The protests are only the beginning.

For those who know the history of the Civil Rights movement, you know that they used a multiply prong approach to their goals. There were civil disobedience, quiet protests, marches, talks with legislators, bocotts and many other things used to make their point. You had people like Dr. King and others who approached things like Malcolm X. It came from all sides.

We don't coop the Civil Rights movement, but we learn from their methods. Protests are one part of the process, and it should be in front of Morman temples, Catholic churches, mega churches, state capital buildings, city halls, town halls, legislators offices, and even in front of the White House.

But, while they are going on, others are inside talking to legislators and other decision makers. A pressure cooker works far better than an open pot for cooking, because the heat come from all sides. So, turn up the heat in front of the churches and other places. We're not giving anyone a pass who doesn't support equal rights.

First, the LDS church is not the sole focus of the protests. Churches of different faiths have been targeted based on their participation in Yes on 8. And notably the suggested targets of the protests being called for this weekend are local governmental buildings.

Some people have done bad things. I don’t support tagging churches. I don’t support hate speech. Apparently someone sent two envelopes of white powder to Mormon churches today. Odds are reasonable that some misguided person did this in light of the Prop 8 results. I hope that we police our own. That if an LGBT supporter did this, that it is LGBT people that turn him in.

Personally, I am having trouble getting behind the pressures being put on individuals. Costing people jobs. Calling for protests against small businesses. I know it’s happened before. I know it’s been a part of other successful civil rights campaigns. These people peacefully participated in one of American society’s way to settle disputes. I can certainly understand why someone would prefer not to hand over their money to someone who might donate it to other “Yes” type campaigns. But the instances I’ve seen so far leave a bad taste in my mouth and I, personally, prefer not to participate.

This is one of the reasons that establishment forces have issues with grassroots activism. As more people get involved, the likelihood that some person will engage in unsavory activity increases, whether it is some of the instances of racist language noted here at Bilerico previously or the cowardly terrorism of mailing white powder to people. That isn’t to say that I have a problem with activism that grows from the ground up. I strongly support and believe that activism should be working on several levels at once. I do think it needs to be pointed out that if we complain about establishment groups for too much control and grassroots groups for too little, we are not left with much.

However there is a difference between some individuals of a group behaving inappropriately, or even illegally, and a group of people cohesively acting to deny others rights.

It is possible for people to discuss race without being racist. It is possible for people to discuss homosexuality without being homophobic. And it is certainly possible for people to discuss, and protests are part of the public discussion process, the actions of a religious group without attacking that group’s religion. In fact, saying that white people can’t discuss race or racism is itself racist. And etc. If the Mormons, or anyone else, ever need my help to protect their right to practice their religion freely, I will be happy to provide it. If in some alternate dimension they needed my help to continue preaching anti-gay rhetoric, I would help. They have the right to say, think and believe whatever they want. But when people act to legally impose their religion on others, they deserve to be called out for it. As far as I am concerned, attempts to portray the Mormons as hypocritical are incredibly small prices for them to pay and are only being mentioned at all out of political expediency and shocked self-righteousness.

In many ways, I am far less concerned who is getting protested than that there are so many successful protests. I support the LGBT establishment groups and think good work has been done by them. But I also believe that the tactics and demeanors that established organizations naturally acquire is not the only successful way to organize. And I suspect that it might not be possible for it to be truly successful on its own. I am excited about the galvanizing spirit these protests bring and I am excited about the attention they gather.

I didn’t see any coverage of Prop 8 in the national media before the election. I’m seeing it daily on multiple channels now. This discussion will ultimately result in gains.

The way to protest church political activity is to be low key and think and speak of the protest as a vigil. Rowdy is bad, friendly is good. Don't curse or name-call. Make sure signs aren't negative in a personal way. Don't name individual targets, merely institutions, and don't attack the institution or “religion” as a whole, just this one policy. Have more positive than negative signs: "Gay By God", "God loves my son and his partner", "Together __years", and so on.

Be polite to everyone attending church, and if the churchgoers cuss you out, turn the other cheek and be peaceable - "I'll pray that God will open your eyes to justice" or something on that line (if you sincerely are a praying type). These people need to see gays as ordinary people, not hooligans or freaks. They need to see that we aren't trying to prevent them from worshipping, or from having their own personal code of conduct that forbids them to take part in same-gender sexual acts, merely from using the secular law to impose their religious opinion on those outside their denomination.

Dress conservatively - parka/tee shirt and jeans, not club clothes or shock-the-straights clothes. You should look like you are going grocery shopping or running some clothes to the dry cleaners or going to work. You would like to show both the churchgoers and the random gawkers that you have a life, not a "lifestyle". Always remember, media may be there.

In fact, try to attract media to the event, and steer media by making it easy for them to get their story. Recruit some people to be spokespersons, train them on a few media techniques, send out press releases naming individuals (and summarizing their story or job description) willing to be interviewed before or during the action, have a prominently signaged "Media station" onsite, with a schedule of which interview subjects will be waiting at the media station at which times, supply said media station with free coffee and soda for media and police only.

Get clergy from liberal congregations involved. Also find some long-time lesbian or gay couples, or trans couples who have been unwillingly divorced by the state after one person transitions. Ideally, some of the couples should have significant involvement in religion and be able to state why they believe God sanctions their union. Some of the couples, agnostic/atheist or religious, should be able to talk about problems they have had (hospital visitation and health care management) due to lack of civil marriage. A legal expert, perhaps from the local ACLU, or a local lawyer with a specialized gay practice component, would be good to have on hand as well.

This works very well. We did it in St. Louis for the Exodus ex-gay "Love Won Out" seminar at a local conservative church. This was pulled together in less than two weeks, and had media, event bus transportation, parking, police relations (call them up, find out law and local traffic issues, and enlist cooperation by promising cooperation), participant security training (how to defuse arguments non-violently, and how/where to keep protesters placed for safety) more or less worked out in time. The police in the suburb containing the church conference appreciated our orderly behavior, the cell phone number of the protest security manager, the fact that the protest's own volunteer security wore identifying smocks, making it easy enough for police to get help keeping crowds safely away from moving cars. After all, police officers generally prefer an easy safe stress-free day.

If you can't manage a low key protest, it would be better to avoid the actual churches and stick to protesting at a site customarily used for rallies,political speeches, etc.

All superstition driven groups are cults. This is one cse where size doesn't matter, but the fact that they all do us damage does. Without exception they're based on the warmed over eches of ancient fantasies and of minimal use even to those who relish really bad science fiction. People of “faith’ chooses a lifestyle that can be very dangerous. As in drinking the Kool-Aid and shooting the queers.

Should we hate Mormons and catholics? What would be the point? However when businesses, politicians, cults and public figures vilify us and politically organize to harm us should we make sure they know how angry we are. Definitely. And as often as circumstances permit.

Should we find legal ways to punish cults? Absolutely, and cheerfully. Boycotts, ridicule,and demonstrations are all in order.

Cult groups are the really bad part of the entertainment industry. Should we insist that they be taxed just like Disney of DreamWorks. Positively. Bush, soon to be followed by Obama, uses federal largess to buy political support using bribes under Hillary Clinton’s faith based ‘charities’. It should be abolished and the recipients forced to repay us.

Should cults be permitted to frighten and warp the development of children in cult schools? Definitely not.

Finally, keep in mind that if the HRC 'fundraisers', Obama apologists and other self appointed leaders who misled No on 8 and the efforts in Arizona and Florida had been smart enough to denounce Obama’s bigotry and if they'd led a campaign of angry, disruptive demonstrations that threatened more of the same we very probably wouldn’t be in this mess now.

Protest if you wish or must on Saturday, but if you are not lobbying your state legislators to require religions and churches to pay property tax on their facilities if they choose to become politically active, or siccing state tax auditors on their books, you are not doing anything but playing out a romantic 1960s fantasy.

For what the Mormons and K of C did in Cali (and, in my state, megachurches and the Southern Bastard Convention in 2004), they should be forced to pay property tax on their churches, seminaries, and cathedrals. They violated tax code. They should be held accountable. And, while you are at it, support churches who support your lifestyle and beliefs.