The Mormon Church has ten million members worldwide and is one of the fastest growing and most-centrally controlled U.S.-based religions. It is by far the richest religion in America with over $25 billion in estimated assets. It has been immensely influential in the family values movement. All three of these factors are evident in this expose of the Mormon Church's dominant involvement and financial investment in the promotion and triumph of California's Proposition 8 which banned same-sex marriages. Reed Cowan directs this documentary which reveals some of the secrets of the Mormon crusade against gay people that came to light through an investigation conducted by the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
In order to lend an up-close and personal dimension to the expose, the filmmakers introduce us to Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones, a gay couple who were married in San Francisco after the California Supreme Court on May 15, 2008, ruled that the previously existing statutory ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. They find it ironic that even as their Mormon ancestors were persecuted by Christians and others for the practice of polygamy, they are now are treated as immoral individuals by Mormons.
Members of the church were told by Mormon Prophet Thomas S. Monson that they must do everything possible to insure the passage of Proposition 8. Monson claimed to have a direct message from God that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman and was part of a Divine plan. With the precision and discipline of an army on an important mission, the Mormon community raised 30 million dollars to ensure the passage of California's anti-gay Proposition 8. They also sponsored a media blitz and an aggressive door-to-door campaign managed by a group called The National Organization for Marriage.
This documentary also brings to light the suffering and pain of gay Mormons who have felt the sting of homophobia in their families and communities. The filmmakers interview gays who have tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide. They follow three gay teenage boys who are homeless and living temporarily in a rat-infested building. A grim young man shares horrific stories of abuse against homosexuals through the use of electric shock therapies and frontal lobotomies. The end result is a call to action for the LGBT community and their supporters (like the two mothers in the film) to continue fighting for civil rights in face of such entrenched and powerful enemies. The most shocking thing of all about 8: The Mormon Proposition is that it graphically depicts the hatred and the intolerance that can be marshaled in the religious name of "family values."
