Mormon Prop 8 documentary opens today

Before researching a documentary on something else entirely, Reed Cowan had no idea how influential the Mormon Church was in the Prop 8 elections.

But while speaking to homeless teens in Salt Lake City, he learned that most of them had been kicked out of their homes for being gay because the Church of Latter Day Saints preached to their families that homosexuality was wrong.

And when Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, was voted into law, Cowan realized that the church was not only affecting the lives of the thousands of homeless youth in Utah, but also millions of voters in California.

He decided to shift his focus and concentrate on Prop 8, which according to Cowan was a symptom of the same “hatred spilling out from the pulpit” that was leading to gay youth homelessness in Utah. In an interview with 365gay.com last week, he made it clear that his film was a comment on the organization and leadership of the Mormon Church, not necessarily the individuals who are a part of it.

Cowan and his team uncovered hundreds of documents from the leadership of the church, exposing its influence on the proposition debate. Letters from Mormon leaders explained that because the national public had a very negative impression of the Mormon Church, they would have to run their campaign through front groups, such as The National Organization for Marriage.

The Church flooded these front groups with funding and volunteers, sending mailings and canvassers all over California to persuade voters to vote for Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would amend the California constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Prop 8 passed in the November 2008 election – in large part, says Cowan, because of the behind-the-scenes contributions from the Mormon Church.

“Only 3 percent of Californians are Mormon, yet three-quarters of the money put into Prop 8 came from Mormons,” said Cowan. “Proposition 8 was the most expensive ballot measure in the history of the United States. Voters have a right to know who is behind a measure when it picks up uncommon speed and heat and money three months before they cast that sacred, sacred vote, not three months after.”

In the film, Cowan interviews ex-Mormons who explain how the church pressured them and their families to donate to the campaign for Prop 8. He found that gathering Mormons and ex-Mormons for interviews was easy.

“They came out of the woodwork. They lined up around the corner, people coming in crying telling their stories. They wanted to go on the record that they were hurt and they were hurting,” Cowan said.

Getting them to leave was the hard part.

“About halfway through the day, people wouldn’t leave after their interview. They wanted to pull up a chair and listen to the other interviews. It was like a family was born that day. There was a commonality that was quite remarkable.”