Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children

Boycott Utah? Absolutely. I still think it's a no-brainer response to Prop 8's Mormon-funded passage and something that has to happen.

Granted, some folks will hem and haw, but the reality is that it's already happening and currently ongoing. And here's my request to those of you reporting on the boycott: next time you feel the impulse to deliver instant gratification to your readership re how the boycott is faring, please first take a moment to pause and consider what a sad joke it is for professionals like you to expect boycott proponents like me to be available to quantify the impact-to-date after one friggin' month, given the current national economic situation, and the fact that Utah's peak ski season hasn't even started yet, not to mention that every Utah official who you might query will have a vested interest in disavowing any impact.



And, yeah, I still think this is a great idea, too:



That said, I personally have no copyrighted works to my name that might allow me to consider whether or not to license them to the Mormons. So, I've concluded that maybe it's time I show up outside a performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (or that of any BYU performing arts group scheduled to make an appearance in my area). And with that in mind, I compiled the following schedule:

2009 Schedule of BYU Performing Arts and Mormon Tabernacle Choir Performances

I've been sitting on this schedule for weeks now. If you take a look, you'll probably quickly understand why I've been hesitant to upload it (and I have been hesitant. Even though BYU recently pulled their performing arts tour schedules off their website in response to the threat of protests, I've held back proposing such protests until now, because, well, most of the BYU performances are happening out in the sticks.).

In the major metropolitan areas on the calendar, it's a given that we'll get folks lined up to greet Mormonism's cultural ambassadors at every stop. But, asking folks to show up at some of the more remote locales is not something I undertake lightly. I'm no Mike Huckabee and I don't buy his line that more of us need to get our skulls cracked before the rest of us are finally required to recognize what this country has always been about: all men are created equal. Of course, no matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words, but unless I can be there with you (exposing my skull to the same potential damage), I'm not all that comfortable asking someone else to put themselves on the line for those words in places like Queen Creek, Arizona.

But then I ran across a series of YouTube clips shot in St. George, Utah.

St. George.

Utah.

The video's not perfect, but if you've ever been Mormon, and if you're looking for something to brighten your holidays, this series of vids did it for me:

Part 1 - Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children:



Part 2 - Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children



Part 3 - Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children



Part 4 - Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children



More Music - Mormon Mothers Speak Out for their Gay and Lesbian Children



And it got me to wondering ... granted, none of the videos are of protests per se, but if these same folks from St. George could be persuaded to gather the evening of January 16th, or 17th, or 30th, or 31st outside the Cox Auditorium in their town, wouldn't that be something?

We've got your backs. It's you vs. the hypocrites. And wherever you are, if you can show up, it will have an impact.