Tom Hanks accused Mormons (Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) of being “un-American” due to many church members’ support of California’s Proposition 8, which constitutionally banned gay-marriage in California. In his own words, Hanks said “the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen… There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them.” Really, Mr. Hanks? By what definition of “American” does Hanks arrive at his conclusion? Certainly not a definition based in our constitution, or in public sentiment for that matter.

       The First Amendment to our constitution reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, …” This integral part of the Bill of Rights, unique to American law and society, is representative of some of our highest and most “American” ideals. In sum, each citizen is guaranteed the free exercise of his or her religion (as long as it does not harm others). Each citizen is also guaranteed freedom of speech (with very few restraints).

       If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wishes to encourage its members to oppose gay-marriage, it is free to do so. In fact, such a right is vintage American. Moreover, Hanks gets his facts wrong. The LDS Church did not solicit donations to the church in order to support Proposition 8’s ban on gay-marriage. Individual church members gave money through private donations to a multi-faith political action committee which supported Proposition 8. What California witnessed was democracy in action. A majority of Californians, most of them not Mormon, voted to ban gay-marriages. This was not a surprising result, since in 2000, Californians passed a similar measure banning gay-marriage by an even wider margin, only to have their voice silenced and overruled by an ultra-liberal California Supreme Court. Whereas the first vote was simply a law prohibiting gay-marriages, Proposition 8 was a Constitutional Amendment which effectively prohibited the court from once again circumventing the will of the people.

       Hollywood does not want the people of California to have the final say. They want a panel of four judges to dictate its “enlightened” will upon the people. The homosexuals responded to the vote with seething anger. Gay activists refused to accept the result of the democratic process, and began to riot and protest. Gay activists have targeted Mormons due to their effective organizational role in the campaign to pass Proposition 8, and their vulnerability as a minority group. These same angry gay activists have defaced churches, intimidated citizens, vandalized the homes and cars of individual donors to the Proposition 8 campaign, and sent an envelope full of white powder to a Mormon Temple.

       It is time for gay activists to respect the democratic process and accept the results of November’s election. Hollywood liberals must accept these results too. Mr. Hanks and others must realize that their moral values and concepts of justifiable societal rights are out of step with the American public. As Kim Farah, a spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said in response to Hanks’ comments, “Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets.”