Posted by:
jw the inquizzinator
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Date: November 15, 2010 06:13PM
Mormon church was unfairly targeted over Prop. 8, BYU professor says
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/18433/Mormon-church-was-unfairly-targeted-over-Prop-8-BYU-professor-says?s_cid=queue_title&utm_source=queue_title"PROVO, Utah — Supporters of Proposition 8 came under fire from the national media and gay-rights activists, but none as much as the LDS Church, which became an unfairly overinflated target for the media, a BYU professor explained recently during a two-day Mormon Media symposium at BYU.
The showdown began in May 2008 when the California Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22, the ballot initiative that had banned same sex marriage in 2000, explained Joel Campbell, an associate communications professor at Brigham Young University and former writer for the Deseret News.
In June 2008, Proposition 8 had qualified for the November ballot and on June 29, 2008, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked that a letter be read in LDS congregations across California stating their support for the proposition and requesting that members support it, too, said Campbell.
By August, media were reporting that religious groups had joined the fight, and by September, Mormons were being mentioned specifically and negatively, Campbell said. The Wall Street Journal and even British newspapers began framing the issue as "Mormons versus Gays."
"Mormons were singled out more in news coverage because they were an easy 'other' to identify," Campbell said.
After the amendment passed, Campbell said a New York Times article in November 2008 talked about how Mormons had tipped the scales in the gay marriage ban.
Yet Campbell pointed out the criticism was disproportionate given the number of other pro-proposition groups involved, many much more so than the LDS Church."
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oh brother.....