The Salt Lake City-based Mormon church, whose adherents are estimated to comprise 3.5 percent of Hawaii's 1.1 million population, has poured $600,000 into the state to prevent the legalization of same-sex marriage. Mormons help fight
same-sex with $600,000
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' office of the president gave $400,000 and the office of the presiding bishop donated $200,000 to Save Traditional Marriage-'98, which is leading the drive to approve a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.
The donations were fully revealed in the church's campaign spending reports, but only $185,000 was disclosed in Save Traditional Marriage's latest report.
The discrepancy raised the suspicions of leaders of the effort to defeat the proposed amendment. They believe it reflects an attempt to hide the full extent of Mormon backing for the anti-gay marriage amendment, said David Smith, a senior strategist for the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization.
Smith also said yesterday they were astonished that the Mormon hierarchy would spend so much to change the Hawaii Constitution, and in attempting to do so, undermine the separation between church and state.
John Hoag, public affairs director for the Mormon church in Hawaii who is also a member of Save Traditional Marriage's steering committee, said STM did not receive the $415,000 until after the Oct. 19 reporting deadline. "There was no attempt to hide anything. It'll be in the next report," he said.
The Mormon church is supporting the constitutional limitation on marriage because it feels the matter is a moral issue, Hoag said.
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By Star-Bulletin staff