Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Prop 8 Supporters Un-American/Misinformed

A few weeks ago, Tom Hanks said that supporters of Prop 8 were Un-American.
“The truth is this takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some
bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a
lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a
lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like
to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states
in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and
people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of
our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of
backwards. So let's have faith in not only the American, but Californian,
constitutional process.”

Thankfully, Hanks later apologized , but only after the Mormon church responded with this:
When informed of the "Forrest Gump" star's comments, Kim Farah, a
spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, told Tarts, "Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American
as it gets."


Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry,
added, "Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they
shouldn’t vote their conscience
. Hanks said he doesn’t 'like to see any
discrimination codified on any piece of paper.' Considering that just
about every law discriminates in some form or another, makes this comment
ridiculous. Hanks’ comment shows that he very much believes in discriminating
against people with whom he disagrees.
I may not agree with Mormon
theology, but I certainly defend their right to express their opinion."

And a few days ago, Samual L. Jackson resonds with this:
"I wouldn't go so far as to calling them un-American," Jackson told
Foxnews.com. "I'd just call them misinformed."

Unfortunately, most actors aren't really interested in more than giving a soundbite, so he offers no reason for his statement. And apparently 70% of Californians are misinformed. Does that even make sense? Doesn't have to, I suppose. That's a perk of celebrity staus.

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