This is what happens when you fuck with civil rights

Well, it was bound to happen and it did.

LDS came out as the major cash backer behind prop 8 in California.

While I’m all for freedom of speech, the Utah based “Christian Denomination” (I’m avoiding the word Cult here in honor of a few friends of mine) was the major funding source for proposition 8 to declare marriage as being between 1 man and 1 woman.

From what we can tell so far, LDS put up 8 million of it’s own money as well as a minimum of 10 million in donations from members.  Where is this all headed?

Well, the usual.  People are pissed.

The backlash against the church — and by extension Utah — has been immediate. Protests erupted outside Mormon temples, Facebook groups formed telling people to boycott Utah, and Web sites such as mormonsstoleourrights.com began popping up, calling for an end to the church’s tax-exempt status.

Of course the Church finds this disturbing.

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said in a statement about the temple protests Friday that it is “disturbing” that the church is being singled out for exercising its right to speak up in a free election.

“While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process,” Farah said.

News flash Kim, if your going to turn your church into a PAC, then you don’t need any tax exempt status do you?

The backlash is a bit wider however now, as there are now calls for a boycott against everything possible. 

Bob Malone, CEO and president of the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, said it is unfair to try to punish certain industries or parts of the state over an issue it had nothing to do with.

“It’s really not a Park City thing, and I don’t see it as a state thing. That was more of a religious issue,” he said. “To sweep people in who really have nothing to do with that issue and have no influence over religious issues — it’s sad that people kind of think that and say, ‘We’re going to bury you.’ It’s sad to hear people talk like that.”

Freedom of speech is a real bitch ain’t it Bob?

Read the whole thing here.

And yes, I’m biased.