I was watching the news last night when this story came up. I don't know how many of you have heard about it, since the film hasn't been screened yet.
You can watch the news segment at this site: http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/Controversial-LDS-Gay-documentary-to-be-shown-at/sj1Soy8q1ECrOlL4DxCifA.cspx
Here's the text of the article posted on ABC 4's website. The thing I found most alarming about the segment was the comments by Chris Buttars (in red). As if people don't already have negative views about Utah and the Church in relation to homosexuals...
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A highly anticipated and controversial documentary about the LDS Church and California’s Proposition 8 will have its world premiere at Utah’s Sundance Film Festival.Sundance has officially accepted “8: The Mormon Proposition” for screening at next month’s festival.The man behind the documentary is Reed Cowan, a former Salt Lake TV reporter.The documentary has already created quite a buzz because of Cowan’s interview with Utah State Senator Chris Buttars.In February of this year, ABC 4 was the first to report the anti-gay comments made by Buttars in that interview.Among other things, Buttars said gays had no morals, compared gays to radical Muslims and even went so far as to suggest that gays represented the greatest threat to America.At this time, the LDS Church is not commenting on the documentary's appearance at Sundance.But Cowan said Thursday about his film, "It provides a voice to the voiceless and it strikes at the heart of one of thehighest held values in the United States of America and that is the separation of church and state."The festival runs from January 21st to the 31st.
Friday, December 4, 2009
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The thing that upsets me most about this video is that is gives voice to Butters when his voice represents a small minority of LDS members. Butters is a complete idiot. Anybody who agrees with Butters clearly would be going against the Brethren of the LDS Church.
ReplyDeleteI've watched the trailer for this movie, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have not seen the whole thing, what I have seen is extreme, takes the Brethren's comments out of context, and makes The LDS Church seem like a bunch of bigots. Though bigots exist among us, far outnumbering them are the millions of people who have genuine love and tolerance towards gays.
While I do think there is a need for improvement in the church with this issue, this movie was not made to increase understanding; it only seems to exchange hate for hate.
I agree with you both here. I think this film is ridiculous and only showing the viewpoints of a few select LDS individuals who have these radical views. I think it would help a lot if the church made a statement regarding this film so that it doesn't give this wrong impression to the rest of the world about our views. People should know that this is not a point of LDS doctrine and that not everyone believes it. People who agree with this stuff or discriminate against mormons for having these opinions just aren't informed enough. It's just like how we've talked about in class that students at BYU are so uninformed of the gay community even at our school, let along in the LDS faith. If students were more informed on the numbers and on the true LDS beliefs in this area, then there would be a lot more understanding. I think the same thing goes for the world of LDS and non-LDS alike. If they were more informed on what we really believe and live by, (Chris and his wife are great examples) then there would be a lot less controversy and discrimination toward our church.
ReplyDeleteOh man. I agree with everyone. I just watched the trailor and it really makes the Church out to be something it is not.
ReplyDeleteI thought we were making some progress with the Church's statement regarding homosexuals and their rights, but if this movie premiers at Sundance, it's going to put the Church back a good million steps in regards to everyone thinking we are bigots.
Butters is indeed an idiot and no one in the church should be making comments like that. I agree with CBroderick that it would help (as much as it can) if the Church made a statement about the film.
The thing that freaks me out is that the movie hasn't even gotten to Sundance yet. If it's already causing as much of a stir as it currently is, that will multiply ten fold when it finally is screened. The Church definitely needs to make a statement, but I'm wondering if they'll wait until it's scheduled for Sundance. If they commented now, I know that some would say they're overreacting to a film that majority of people haven't even heard about. Also, by commenting now, those people who haven't heard about the movie wouldn't care about the comment. So I can see the strategy of waiting, even though it is sort of risky.
ReplyDeleteAs for Reed Cowan: "It provides a voice to the voiceless and it strikes at the heart of one of the highest held values in the United States of America and that is the separation of church and state."
I'm going to disagree with him on this, just because what I've seen in my experience doesn't prove this. I've lived in Utah my entire life and the school system, where people would routinely spout "separation of church and state," had little such separation. I don't think he can make this claim in Utah, where the LDS religion is so intertwined into the history of the Church. How many other states have required history classes where you learn about miracles of seagulls eating crickets? That would be total fiction anywhere else. Utahns say they'd like this separation, but at heart, it just can't happen. Even when members of the Church CAN look past their religion, those outside of it can't. For example: anytime a new law was passed further restricting drinking or smoking (regardless of how many other states--not predominantly LDS--had the same policy), people lashed out, saying the Mormons were forcing their religion on everyone else. My point: you can't get away from religion in Utah. Everyone in the state is either for it or against it and tries to make their point known.
Also, ever wonder how much publicity Cowan's going for here? He was a former news anchor in Utah. I remember watching some of his broadcasts. Having that type of job, he knows upfront the type of backlash this would case. But then again, the more backlash, the more publicity for Cowan. And I'm thinking a controversial film about a widely misunderstood religion in association to homosexuals will get him a bit more national publicity than sitting at a Utah news desk.
Steven Greenstreet is a produce for this film. I found the following quote on mormonproposition.com.
ReplyDeleteSteven Greenstreet- "First and foremost this film is not about a church. This film is about people. This film is about the lives of those affected by Prop. 8 and it just so happens that the main force behind prop 8 was a church and it just so happens that that force was the Mormon Church."
See, that's just fine that they want to make a movie about the people being effected. Its a great step towards change. Its what he says after, and is also the feeling of the entire film:
"And on top of that… that church not only crossed the line, but also completely left the line in the dust and opened them up for complete and utter exposure and criticism and they deserve every bit of it. We make no apologies for the facts and information brought up in this film."
What are these facts? The movie I guess talks about them. Who will be there to check it? Is it real evidence or fiction created? When the 116 pages were lost, people went in to change it so that they could accuse Joseph Smith of being a false prophet.
Why is this any different. In the movie synopsis in mormonproposition.com, it states:
"Karger, a gay Californian, was given secret memos and documents from inside the Mormon Church as he investigated the tens of millions of dollars funneled into California to fight gay marriage. The memos reveal for the first time that Mormons used front groups to achieve their goals against LGBT legislation, with a battle plan beginning in Hawaii."
Is this true? How did the funding towards Prop 8 work? How did the Church go about it? What is the evidence they are giving behind this? They merely state that the church had "secret" memos and documents. This may be possible, but if such accusations are going against the church, they will be required to make a statement.
This is what gets me most:
For the first time in history, the film goes on record about alleged prurient meetings between Mormon Prophet Spencer W. Kimball with a secret group of gay BYU students who called themselves "Spencer's Boys."
WHAT THE HECK!?? What is that?!? Seriously!?
This is definitely about the church. This is an attack against the church for a minority of the bigots like Buttars within the church that has hated against gays. Is this what we get for a few of us under the name of the LDS church being so hateful!? All the efforts I've made during Prop 8 period to save friendships with those who were homosexual? My dear friends from high school will see this, and all that I've said, or reached out to them, will be put to shame.
All I've done will be for nothing if this film goes out. But it will, so I hope and pray that there will be a statement by the church if it goes to millions of people.