(December 21, 2013 at 7:58 pm)TaraJo Wrote: That's the other really interesting thing about this happening in Utah. Mormons have a very racist history. Up until 1978, black people (or other dark skinned minorities, I would assume) weren't eligible for priesthood and their book of Mormon still has verses that are VERY racist. But now they're just kinda sweeping that racism under the rug. If you question them on it directly, they won't deny it, but they generally just try to avoid talkin about it.
And in another 20-30 years, when the world overwhelmingly accepts GLBT people, even religions accept gay people, the Mormons will probably sweep their homophobia under the rug. Problem is, the space under that rug is getting pretty crowded; I mean, they already have to sweep their racism under there and the polygamy, too.
To their credit, at least they aren't claiming they were fighting for racial equality. Not that I know of, anyway.
Yes, Utah is an interesting-- and hilarious -- test case (thank you, Comedy God). But the one I can't wait to see will be that first deep South state (perhaps Louisiana, where I live) whose statute or constitutional amendment is overturned by a federal judge. Forget the Mormons. For sheer entertainment value, nothing beats the sight of Baptists and Evangelicals being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. Between their self-righteous indignation and their persecution fantasies, the squeals and ruckus they'll make will be so loud you'd think it was them, rather than Ned Beatty, getting corn-holed in "Deliverance." It's going to be priceless.
