The ride begins… just over a week to the premiere of the hottest film at the Sundance Film Festival or so it appears due to sell out ticket sales. “8: The Mormon Proposition” is certainly the most controversial film exploring and perhaps exposing more than many Utahns feel comfortable with. While you may not have tickets to a screening, there is going to be massive amounts of energy and activity surrounding the film. Come and join us!
Below is the information you need to get involved, thanks to Jacob Whipple, one of the most beautiful activists I have ever met! He honestly is working tirelessly in behalf of so many. Spread the word and do what you can to help.
TICKETS
Yes, EVERY single showing of 8TMP is currently sold out! You can petition Sundance for more screenings by emailing them at festivaltickets@sundance.org. If (I mean when) they open up more screenings you’ll have to get your tickets through Sundance at http://festival.sundance.org/2010/boxoffice/. Unfortunately I don’t have any power to get free tickets. In fact, Reed Cowan (the Director) only got 10 tickets total for him and the entire cast and crew of the film.
PARTIES
There are a number of 8TMP parties being planned…
8TMP Ground Crew Meeting @ Club Jam – Friday, Jan 22nd 8-9pm
This meeting is for all volunteers for the many marches/counter-protests that we’ll be doing. Oscar Award winner and Big Love writer Dustin Lance Black will be there! He’ll show you the signs and posters and marketing materials that we’ll be using and going over the ground rules for conduct and what’s to be expected.
Feel free to stay afterward for a show by gay comedian Eddie Sarfaty (cover charge of $10).
Jam is located at 751 North 300 West in Salt Lake City.
QLounge Sundance Opening Party @ Bliss – Saturday, Jan 23rd 9pm-2am
Join Babylon and the QLounge as we throw the baddest Sundance Opening Party you’ve ever seen! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=241616748954
Club Bliss is located at 404 South West Temple in Salt Lake City.
QLounge Official 8TMP Party @ Bliss – Sunday, Jan 24th 7pm-2am
Join the QLounge as we welcome the filmmakers of “8: The Mormon Proposition.” This is the day the film premiers at Sundance, so the filmmakers and cast will be in town and ready to kick back and mingle. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=236876888276
Club Bliss is located at 404 South West Temple in Salt Lake City.
Cocktails with cineGLAAD Reception @ 625 Main Street – Monday, Jan 25th 4pm-7pm
This intimate cocktail reception presented by Abreva and Bud Light supports LGBT filimmakers and allies by providing fresh networking opportunities with industry professionals and the chance to learn best practices for sharing their important stories with the world! Attendees will receive a one-year membership to GLAAD, three hours of hosted cocktails courtesy of ABSOLUT and Bud Light, opportunities to meet writers, directors and producesrs from all over the country, and multiple chances to win one of our sponsored door prizes!
RSVP today as space is limited and the guest list will be strictly enforced! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=52519826135
GLAAD will also be hosting panel discussions and events throughout Sundance. Watch for more information to come!
cineGLAAD is located at 625 Main Street in Park City.
Official HRC 8TMP Party @ Ciceros in Park City – Monday, Jan 25th 7pm-11pm
Joe Solemnese and HRC National are hosting a star-studded event in Park City to celebrate the documentary’s success at Sundance! This will be 8TMPs most exclusive and most celebrity attended party! Watch for more details from HRC on how to get tickets.
8TMP Tower Screening After Party @ JAM – Wednesday, Jan 27th 8pm-2am
8TMP is screening on Wed the 27th at the Tower Theater in SLC, so stop by Jam (even if you didn’t get to see it) for the after party!
Jam is located at 751 North 300 West in Salt Lake City.
MARCHES
We’re still looking for volunteers for the marches/counter-protests that we’ll be hosting through 8TMPs screenings at Sundance. World-wide media including CNN will be on hand to cover our marches, and protesters of the film, including the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, will be there condemning us all.
You can still volunteer to show up and help make 8TMP a success! This will also give you the chance to meet Dustin Lance Black at our Ground Crew Meeting on the 22nd! We’re also working on coffee sponsorships to keep you warm and swag bags for you to make it worth your while!
For more information email allforoneinitiative@yahoo.com or find Jacob Whipple, Eric Ethington or Misty Fowler on Facebook!
Thursday, January 21st
March #1
5:00pm to 6:30pm at the Eccles Theater (1750 Kearns Blvd in Park City)
March #2
7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Egyptian Theater (328 Main Street in Park City)
March #3
9:00pm to 10:00pm at the Eccles Theater (1750 Kearns Blvd in Park City)
March #4
10:30pm to 12 midnight at the Sundance Opening Night Party (1310 Lowell Ave in Park City)
Friday, January 22nd
March #5
6:00pm to 7:30pm at the Rose Wagner Theater (138 W Broadway in SLC)
March #6
9:00pm to 12 midnight at the Rose Wagner Theater (138 W Broadway in SLC)
Sunday, January 24th
*March #6 (This is the night and location of 8TMP’s world premier! LOTS of press!)
1:30pm to 4:30pm at the Racquet Club Theater (1200 Little Kate Rd in Park City)
Monday, January 25th
March #7
4:45pm to 5:45pm at the Library Center Theater (1225 Park Avenue in Park City)
Tuesday, January 26th
*March #8 (this is when the press and sudio executives will be watching the screening!)
2:00pm to 5:45pm at the Holiday Village III (1776 Park Avenue in Park City)
Wednesday, January 27th
March #9
5:10pm to 8:30pm at the Tower Theater (876 East 900 South in Salt Lake City)
Friday, January 29th
March #10
11:30am to 2:40pm at the TEMPLE Theater (3700 N Brookside Ct in Park City)
Saturday, January 30th
8:30pm to 9:05pm Sundance Screening Room (8841 Alpine Loop Rd in Sundance)
If you can commit to showing up to a march please respond with the following info:
Name:
Phone:
Email:
Carpool: Yes or No
Need a Ride: Yes or No
March(es) you can commit to: (Place the number(s) here)
It has been awhile since I posted and I wanted to give updates and share some thoughts.
Due to my health issues we are downsizing so as to focus on the treatments I need. This has been a wonderful healing journey in and of itself. To let go of all the STUFF, the things that we have lugged around for years and piled higher in the garage. It’s amazing when you prepare to move to a small town-home without a garage, you realize how much junk you have saved on the outside chance you may need it. It brings security right? I might NEED it someday.
When something like this hits, you realize very quickly, there are very few THINGS you need. And security comes from within far more than from what is piled in a garage or shoved in a closet. So the mere act of sorting through the last 10 years of your life, deciding what is absolutely essential and what is just dragging you down, keeping you stuck perhaps, is as liberating as burning your bra must have felt like in the 70’s! It is exciting, almost daring and makes me feel young again.
The act of “letting go”, surrendering… not in a ‘throw in the towel’ sort of way, but just getting to a place of acceptance, non-resistance, feels truly exhilarating. I dare you to try it. Don’t wait for a brain tumor to shake you or wake you up. Just dive in and let go!
I don’t think it is any coincidence that this is happening just a week before the Sundance Film Festival which premieres “8: The Mormon Proposition”, a film which features our family and will most likely have a profound affect on our lives. I remember the symbol of the Rebel card…
The Rebel ~ “The powerful and authoritative figure in this card is clearly the master of his own destiny.On his shoulder is an emblem of the sun, and the torch he holds in his right hand symbolizes the light of his own hard-won truth. Whether he is wealthy or poor, the Rebel is an emperor because he has broken the chains of society’s repressive conditioning and opinions. He has formed himself by embracing all the colors of the rainbow emerging from the dark and formless roots of his unconscious past and growing wings to fly into the sky. His very way of being is rebellious – not because he is fighting against anybody or anything, but because he has discovered his own true nature and is determined to live in accordance with it. The Rebel challenges us to be courageous to take responsibility for who we are and to live our truth”
So I LET GO …. of the fear, of resistance, of anger at an institution that broke our hearts, of expectations, of disappointments. And I STAND UP for equality, goodness, love, charity, my children and yours. I am ready, excited and willing to live my truth, to do my part in this civil rights movement of my day! I might even start by burning my bra!!
My Darling husband has been through a lot this holiday season. The stress of a wife with a brain tumor during anytime of the year is hard to deal with. So naturally I wasn’t too surprised to see his creative outlet flow into this song…
I couldn’t help but think of the saintly Heterosexuals protecting the sanctity of marriage.
The buzz continues! First let me say, I absolutely LOVE this new poster! I set a Google alert to watch the activity around this film. It averages about 20-30 alerts a day! Here are some of my favorite commentaries thus far:
Spotlight: Documentary: Sometimes they just put documentaries in Specturm/American Spectrum/Whateverthefuck, sometimes the documentaries get their own category. Under this new Spotlight, they have their own little sub-category again. The talk of Utah will, of course, be “8: The Mormon Proposition, directed by Reed Cowan, who used to be a reporter at KTVX. (What channel number is KTVX?) I don’t know what obscure proposition this film details. Probably something about offering someone a million dollars to sleep with his or her wives.
Jeremy.. It’s channel 4 ABC affiliate in SLC, but I think you knew that.
Salt Lake Tribune’s Sean P. Means lists it as one of the Top 10 films to catch at the festival:
“8: The Mormon Proposition” » The festival’s homegrown controversy, as former KTVX reporter Reed Cowan looks at the LDS Church’s role in the campaign for California’s gay-marriage ban. It is a must-see — or a must-boycott, depending on your point of view.
And from what I hear the protesters, boycotters and damners are going to be out in FORCE to make sure I know as a mother I am leading my children to hell and they want me to burn there. Of course they will be quoting the scriptures to back it all up… so it must be true.
Hi, This is Steve… I hijacked Linda’s Blog so I could let you know what this amazing lady is dealing with.
Linda with ELFIS
SHORT STORY: Linda has a brain tumor returning, we’re uninsured and I’m trying to raise money to get her the help she needs before it gets critical.
It might sound a bit strange but ELFIS Lives and he’s coming out to help.
LONG STORY:
This holiday season we find ourselves on the opposite side of where we are used to being, meaning on the side of asking for some help.
Here’s some history that might be helpful. When I first met Linda in 1995 she was literally fighting for her life. A year prior, she had been diagnosed with a pituitary brain tumor and as a result it caused Cushings disease. This type of tumor is generally stress related… caused by and generating an overproduction of cortisol. This creates a catch 22. The cortisol feeds the tumor and the tumor produces more cortisol (the stress hormone that gives you the flight or fight response and raises blood pressure). That is what is life threatening… it stresses the heart, kidneys and brain causing stroke or heart attack. Over the last 15 years she has dealt with it successfully 4 times with both traditionally (drugs 1995 & surgery in 2000) and natural treatments (1996, 1997 and 2002). The last time being when our daughter was raped 8 years ago. Having been symptom free for over 7 years we thought it was finally behind us, until the so familiar symptoms starting showing up again over the last few months. Headaches, blood pressure way too high, skin and hair issues and even with a strict diet and exercise she’s gained excessive weight. All evidence that the tumor was thriving and signaling the body to produce excessive amounts of cortisol.
We knew we needed to get very proactive to keep it from getting to the life threatening stage of the past. Being uninsured with a brain tumor to deal with was not in our plan, plus like many others, this last year has also taken a heavy toll financially in our lives. Without the money or health insurance to cover the cost of just the diagnostic test the doctor would like, let alone the hundred thousand plus for the treatments they will most likely recommend,
we decided to first pursue the far less expensive natural treatments that have worked for her in the past. It seemed a waste to spend precious dollars on diagnostics confirming what we already know.
Thanks to the generosity of a couple friends, six weeks ago we were able to go to San Diego for 10 days and make major progress in breaking the underlying emotional stress cycles that are a major part of the issue. Linda has also benefited greatly from the unselfish assistance of a few local alternative practitioners.
Our immediate need now is to raise $10,000 more to get her scheduled and in a natural treatment center in Mexico the very first of January 2010. We know that if we don’t address this at this beginning stage, the cost for more extensive therapies could take an additional $30,000 or more. It all seems like a lot of money, until we consider the cost of surgery again (over $100,000.00, 10 years ago) or 30 days treatment in a cancer center in the US without insurance.
We know these are tough times for most everyone and we appreciate any good energy, prayers and love you can send our way. If you feel to assist us by contributing financially, in any amount, that would be extremely helpful and welcome.
Please make financial gifts payable to: Linda Stay
Mail to: 908 Madison Heights Washington, UT 84780
Not being accustomed to taking handouts, we’re always looking for win win situations. Here are a couple ideas that may be of value to all of us at this time of year.
About 25 years ago I started performing during the Christmas season as a character called ELFIS, an Elf/Santa mix, singing parody Christmas songs and telling The ELFIS Story. Part of that story and several home made video’s posted at http://www.ElfisLives.com This will give you an idea of what it is. I used to do 100+ performances each December when I lived in Salt Lake City but pretty much hung up my red underwear when we moved to St. George 8 years ago.
I decided to get get them out again:
1- For everyone:
My brother Joey and his family have re-produced
100 CD’s of my classic ELFIS Lives album to assist us. It includes
23 songs where ELFIS Warps, Twist, and Spins a dose of Reality
into your Favorite Holiday Classics. To anyone making a donation
of $20.00 I will send one or get two for donations of $30.00, while they last.
2- For those of you in or around St. George, UT: If you or
anyone you know has a holiday party planned, know of one or want
to plan one, I’d be honored to entertain at any party you think might
be appropriate. The cost would be whatever donation the attending
guest decide to give. I can do a quick drop in or a full blown 45min
program, day or night, home or business. Kids enjoy ELFIS but the
content is definitely directed at an older audience. It is NOT your
normal Christmas performance.
To check on my availability and to arrange a party performance, call
me directly at: 435-674-0992
Hello friends: Here are our FINAL screening times and places to see 8TMP at SUNDANCE. I need as many people on the ground helping Jacob Whipple as possible during these and other times he will communicate to you. Message him through Facebook please. See below for screening times. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
BREAKING NEWS: JUST ANNOUNCED!!! 8TMP SCREENING TIMES:
Sunday, January 24, 2:15 p.m.Racquet Club, Park City
Monday January 25, 5:30 p.m.Library Center Theatre, Park City
Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 p.m.Tower Theatre, SLC
Friday, January 29, noon Temple Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January 30, 9:00 p.m.Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Thank you Heidi for sharing your story with me and allowing me to share it here. It is beautiful, as are YOU.
Heidi and Serene Gibson
“When I was 13 years old in the 7th grade I came home from basketball practice and told my parents I wanted to quit. Mind you I was 6′2 when I was 13 and still am at 32. With that height advantage and the love that I have for sports my parents couldn’t understand why I would want to quit. I was sitting with my mom at the kitchen table. I kept telling her “I just don’t like it..” and she put her hand on mine and said “There’s more to it than that Heidi – just tell me how you feel.” At that moment I began to cry – sob actually.
At that moment I told my mom I didn’t feel right. I was uncomfortable and scared because I wasn’t like the other girls. I didn’t like the same things they did, I didn’t want the same things they did and I didn’t even act the way they did.
I’ve never since gotten a hug as big as the one my mom gave me at that moment. She put my hands in her face and said these words,
“It’s ok baby. You just put a smile on your beautiful face, walk tall and proud. I understand more than you think I do, I understand more than you do. But what I want you to know is that I love you and there is no reason to tell others how you feel. There is no reason for you to talk to kids at school about this. Don’t stereotype yourself. Just smile and love who you are as I do..”
I had no idea that I was gay, but she did. She loves and loved me regardless. It was tough back then, much different than it is now. When I went to college I wanted to fit in, I dated boys and hated it. I decided I would try and be who society wants me to be. I married my best friend – who just happened to be born a man. My mom cried on my wedding day – not because she was happy for her baby getting married – but because she knew I was doing it to try to be something I wasn’t. It didn’t last. In fact it took longer to plan the wedding than it did to get rid of it. I was depressed and couldn’t take any more.
I was again married June 4th 2009 in Mills County, Iowa to my amazing bride and best friend. We had a reception at home in Salt Lake City for our friends and family this past August. It was amazing to see tears in my moms eyes – this time they were real, this time she was happy and proud and this time she knew her baby was being a mother and showing her own little girl what it’s like to live life the way my life was meant to be lived. It was a beautiful day.
Not all are as lucky to have the amazing mother that I have. But I would like to end this by saying it doesn’t matter who loves you or supports you. The most love and admiration comes from within. And no matter what, there are people like myself who love you for ‘who you are’, not ‘what you are’, because you truly are amazing, loved and beautiful.
I concur with Heidi… find that self-love that is deep inside. It is magical where it will take you, as it did Heidi. I would love each of you to reply to this post with your story… good, bad or indifferent. It is the conversations that create the change.
I hope we can have those courageous conversations with our family members at the dinner table this Thrusday.
I am always grateful to find these types of articles and to have my FAITH restored in religion. YES, a church acting like a church.
A church-turned-shelter for homeless youth in Queens, New York is a far cry from sleeping on the streets after a $200,000 renovation and a partnership with the Ali Forney Center for LGBT youth.
A converted church in Queens, N.Y., may look like a pleasant youth hostel, but many of its residents made a tough journey to find this new place to call home.
The Ali Forney Center, New York City’s top service organization for homeless youth, found a partner in the local Episcopal diocese, which also took interest in the hardships that many LGBT homeless youths face. The partnership resulted in a $200,000 renovation of St. Andrew’s Church in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, where 16 young people can now sleep soundly.
Carl Siciliano, executive director of the center, says he’s grateful for the church’s philanthropic outreach.
“So many of these young people are rejected by their families because of religion,” he says. “Kids come in who have been put through exorcisms, and we’ve had kids whose parents make them go see priests who tell them they’re evil and hateful and that they’re going to hell. It’s a really upsetting and unfortunate situation that so many young people are put through this kind of trauma by their parents’ religious beliefs, so it’s very moving to see a religious organization that’s able to say that these youth should be affirmed and cared for, so I’m very grateful to the Episcopal diocese of Long Island for their support.”
I recently watched the film “For the Bible Tells Me So” which was very well done. It so closely parallels my own story in taking on the Mormon church in the recent events surrounding Proposition 8. Our youth are dying because of the sermons they hear in their church… which should be a place of refuge and security, rather than fear and condemnation.
I continue to hear the heartfelt words of Mary Griffith…
“Before you echo Amen in your home or place of worship, think and remember…a child is listening.”
As an ex-mormon zealot I am forever grateful that my God told me to put my arms around my child and tell him “You are okay, I love you, just the way you are. You are Gods gift to me, always have been and that hasn’t changed”.
I only wish more religions who preach God as an omnipotent, all loving being would behave in accordance with what they preach and follow His example.
If you’re a Republican, is it better to be in favor of gay marriage or to make a sex tape? That is the question. At least that’s the question that comes to mind after the reaction to the news that anti-gay marriage champion Carrie Prejean made a sex tape. After watching several of Prejean’s media appearances this week, it was not her incredibly uncomfortable threat to walk out on Larry King that had me most unnerved; it was actually her appearance on Sean Hannity’s show. This was Prejean’s first stop on her book publicity tour, and when the sex tape came up, he proceeded to ask her if she was “in love with her boyfriend at the time that she made [it].” I’m sorry, why would being in love matter when it comes to filming yourself in a sexual context?
Carrie Prejean is only 22, after all, and a former Miss California USA, not a politician. And lest we forget, she feels the same way about gay marriage that our own president does.
Frankly, I am sick of all the hypocrisy when it comes to sex and politics in this country—and that goes for all politicians, not just Republicans. Carrie Prejean claims making that tape was “the biggest mistake” of her life—it’s the same one that many other girls have made—but it has since come out that she may have made seven other sex tapes and posed for 30 nude photos.
So I want to send this message to my little sister and other women reading this right now: Making a sex tape is never acceptable. I don’t care how in love you are with your boyfriend. Jennifer Lopez made a tape with her then-husband on their honeymoon and she is currently in a lawsuit to prevent it from being released. I am of the mind-set that you should never record anything in private that you wouldn’t mind the whole world to see. Because somehow, some day, those images will find their way to the public.
I know I’ve learned my lesson after posting a now-notorious photograph of myself on Twitter—and I had all of my clothes on. So this is not a good message for Sean Hannity to send, that if you were in love with your boyfriend it is OK. These tapes and photographs can ruin your career and your credibility, but it’s the laissez faire attitude toward them that I find so upsetting.
I find it even more disturbing that as long as you oppose gay marriage, filming yourself having sex is taken more lightly. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this kind of thinking? And hypocrisy is something the Republican Party can’t afford to have right now as the GOP struggles to find its identity. As I said, we all make mistakes and I don’t want to be too harsh on Carrie Prejean. She is only 22, after all, and a former Miss California USA, not a politician. And lest we forget, she feels the same way about gay marriage that our own president does.
The problem I have with my fellow Republicans is why gay marriage is the trump card in any situation. It seems that as long as you are against gay marriage, any scandal in your life can be overlooked or overcome. When you are in favor of it, however—and I have been very vocal about my support—that position defines you.
Sometimes I wonder if I were against marriage equality, whether it would make it easier for some Republicans to accept my place within this party. I have to constantly remind people of my pro-life, pro-small government stance because the only view that seems to matter is the fact that I believe my gay friends should have the same right to one of our founding ideals—that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights. I think if Republicans truly believe in keeping government out of our lives—that should include not dictating who one can marry.
Many believe that it was Carrie Prejean’s anti-gay marriage views that cost her the Miss USA pageant earlier this year. My question is: When it comes to Republicans, is your position on gay marriage what determines your fate within the party?
Here we go! The Associate Press just released an article about the Documentary film 8: The Mormon Proposition which features our family story of heartbreak and shock as the LDS Church invested millions toward the passage of Proposition 8. The film uncovers what went on behind closed doors that the general membership of the church has no knowledge of. The trailer is posted on this page to the left.
As this film nears release, naturally I have anxiety concerning the eminent backlash we as a family will endure. Yet I would not change a thing. Our story is one of thousands…it is painful, sad and hopeful. I hope that this film will start more conversations between family members and church members..
I hope people will keep an open mind and judge the film after seeing the facts in its entirety. I welcome an open dialogue about it. My real issue is that the lds church funded propaganda ads knowing they were lies….they were warned by their own attnys. and if I say anything I am accused of being anti-mormon or bashing the church because I differ with them. It amazes me too how the church can spin it so they are the victims in this. SO my question has always been….how does my sons marriage affect the sanctity of yours? How does it threaten your freedom of religion, your freedom of speech
The consequence as we have witnessed with our own son in law and his family is heartbreaking and tragic. For a church that the family is said to be of the highest value, this act is of utmost destruction to many LDS families that now feel they are in a position of having to choose following their prophet or supporting their children’s, grandchildren’s, niece’s or nephew’s basic rights. To put families in that position is absolutely wrong. Obviously protecting our children and their basic rights to be treated equal is what we choose. I don’t believe God will condemn me for that. We are deeply saddened that other family members have chosen otherwise.
As the consequences for our participation in this film will surely come, we will not stop standing for our children and the many others that deserve to be treated equally, with love and respect.
8: The Mormon Proposition
Farwell to Eden: …Mormonism and Science
HRC
Join us~White Knot. Org
Make It Equal. Org
Would Jesus Discriminate?
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