Responding To Scapegoaters

Susan Estrich is a opinion columnist. Her work is published by Creators Syndicate, which means, of course, that she is not just a columnist, but she is a syndicated columnist. Millions of readers are exposed to her writing each week.

Her political views are different from my own, but I read her column regularly, as she is one of those rare writers whose views I can respect, because I am sure she respects my own. Also, I find it quite enlightening to read what other people think. This morning I read her article, and found that she has, as so many people in America have, decided that the passage of Proposition 8 is entirely the fault of the LDS Church. While I do not intend on starting another discussion about the merits of Prop 8, I did email her to express my dismay at her scapegoating efforts. The following is the text of my letter to her. I do not have very high hopes that she will respond, but I felt it was worth taking the time to respond to her accusation.

Dear Ms. Estrich,  

I have been a regular reader of your column for quite some time now. Each time I read your articles, I am impressed with the clarity of your writing and the strength of your viewpoints. As a right-leaning moderate, I admit that I do not always agree with your ideology, but I do respect your beliefs, and I appreciate the way you seem to respect the beliefs of others. However, I am writing to you this morning to call you to task on your recent (March 6) article regarding gay marriage. In it you wrote, "No one is telling the Mormon Church what it can do with respect to gay marriage. The Mormon Church should not be telling us."  

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a former resident of California, I can assure you that Proposition 8 did not pass because the LDS Church was telling people what to do. Prop 8 passed because roughly 6.8 million voters, or something along the lines of 52% of the voting population, supported the ballot measure. The LDS population in California is, according to the most recent data I have been able to find, roughly 800,000. This includes children, teens, and immigrants who are not registered voters. Furthermore, it is well known that many Latter-day Saints in California voted against Prop 8, just as many evangelicals, Catholics, and other religious individuals voted against the measure. Regardless, even if every single Latter-day Saint in California had been eligible to vote and had voted in favour of Prop 8, that would not have even come close to the number needed to pass the proposition.  

Write you wish about Proposition 8 and the injustices you feel are being foisted upon the GLBT community in California (and the two dozen or so other states with similar legislation), but please, stop blaming The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the decision made by 52% of the voting population of California.  

Sincerely yours, Alex T. Valencic