I am interested to see where this all goes....

I found the following quotes here:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859323,00.html?cnn=yes

The first:
'"My goal was to make it socially unacceptable to give huge amounts of money to take away the rights of one particular group, a minority group," says Fred Karger, a retired political consultant and founder of Californians Against Hate.'

In other words, he's trying to make it socially unacceptable to believe in something he disagrees with. And he's doing this through public humiliation and economic persecution, which may be his right in this country but isn't a very good response to people exercising their duty to vote with their beliefs about what is best for the country as a whole, not with their ideas of what is socially acceptable.

The second:
"The negative publicity is having effects on both companies and individuals. Scott Eckern, artistic director of the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, whose $1,000 donation was listed on ElectionTrack, chose to resign from his post this week to protect the theater from public criticism. Karger says a "soft boycott" they started against Bolthouse Farms, which gave $100,000 to Proposition 8, was dropped after he reached a settlement with the company. Bolthouse Farms was to give an equal amount of money to gay political causes. The amount ultimately equaled $110,000."

I feel for Brother Eckern, who is now out of a job because he expressed his beliefs and acted on them. Brother Eckern, you notice, did not back down from his stance, but proved his dedication to the arts. Bolthouse Farms, on the other hand, has proven they are wimps. Further, nobody should be subject to any kind of 'settlement' for having beliefs. It's ludicrous. You don't see anyone forcing the Gay and Lesbian Alliance to donate significant amounts of money to anti-abortion campaigns, for example, or to a catholic charity purely because their beliefs are in opposition to those things. Ludicrous may be too gentle a word here. Unbelievably ridiculous, really. And for Bolthouse Farms to agree? How bizarre.

The reason I'm mentioning these (as if I haven't said enough already!) is that I'm interested to see if the persecution and rallies and boycotts and assaults/vandalism and temper tantrums being thrown here are actually going to have the opposite effect than the offended parties intend, making others stand firmer in their convictions rather than back down.

For one thing, the rallies and protests aren't saying anything new or informing anyone about anything we didn't already know and have an opinion about. Consequently, the rallies may be a way to vent anger and frustration, but they are not functioning to enlighten or win over anyone. Conversely, any really thinking person ought to look at the extreme responses and wonder what the problem is. It's like when a 3-year-old throws a fit after being denied a cookie. Doesn't make you want to give it to him, does it? Even if he breaks the cookie jar and calls you names.

For another, the offended parties have assumed that we don't agree because we either are weak (and therefore will change our minds with a little bullying) or just didn't understand (and therefore can be 'won over' or convinced of the error of our ways). They still aren't giving credit to people for actually having beliefs that may differ from their own about what's best for our country as a whole. They also aren't giving enough credit to the powerful pull of religious beliefs.

Do they not realize that they are dealing with people who believe in a tradition that holds it as a badge of honor to be persecuted for your beliefs? Do they not realize that persecution might be a sign to these people that they made a right choice and now should defend it to the death (literally)?

I'm not talking about just Mormons, but all Christians, some of whom tend to be lukewarm in good times but all of whom tend to become fiercely loyal to their religious beliefs when persecuted or faced with staunch opposition. These are people who, if they are true believers, are willing to die defending God's word, and give their all to convince others of it. I imagine non-Christian religious people, many of whom have also dealt with immense persecution in their past (who can deny the Jews that history?) respond the same way. Many religious peoples have firm traditions regarding not backing down under persecution because they've all had to deal with it for centuries.

These are people who sing, with reverence and deep belief, that "Jesus, mighty King in Zion, Thou alone our guide shalt be. Thy commission we rely on; we will follow none but thee" and "God is our sun; he makes our day. God is our shield; he guards our way from all assaults of hell and sin, from foes without and fears within." The Mormons sing: "...Fear not, though the enemies deride. Courage, for the Lord is on our side."

By spending a great deal of time putting a great deal of pressure on the people who donated to the pro-marriage cause, the offended people might just be sealing their own fate. They're dealing with people who are no strangers to persecution, no strangers to difficulties, no strangers to both living and teaching their beliefs in the face of incredible cruelty--and, if they're right in their belief system, have God on their side. And if He's real and if He is what they say He is, no boycott will ever turn them aside, and nobody will be able to prevail against them in the long run, especially through persecutions and temper tantrums.