The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released statements about the Proposition 8 controversy insisting that the gay marriage issue is one that reasonable people can "debate … in the spirit of mutual respect and civility." Statements like these only serve to demonstrate the disconnect the church has from the civil rights nature of this issue, and the very real pain that individuals and families are going through.

It acts as if we are debating a tax policy or a zoning issue. In reality, it is actively working to take away from some people the same rights my wife and I enjoy on a daily basis. Would the LDS Church be as calm over whether or not Mormons ought to be able to marry? Would it argue that a discussion of interracial marriage is just a simple disagreement?

This is an issue of discrimination, and there is no polite way to disagree over discrimination. The anger, the outrage, and the activism that the LDS Church now faces is precisely because it refuses to acknowledge this simple fact.

John Hatch

West Valley City