slow tides turning

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The strong backlash against the LDS Church over Proposition 8 is taking a new twist. LDS members - sometimes whole LDS families - say they are now leaving the Church because of its opposition to same-sex marriage.

On just one anti-prop 8 website, they reportedly number in the hundreds. Some say they've already resigned; others are apparently about to.

Linda Stay from St. George is one of those resigning from the LDS Church, and is doing so because the Church opposes gay marriage, like the one her son Tyler is in.

Andrew Callahan, a LDS member who has been very vocal speaking out against Prop 8, told ABC 4, "It's very clear to me that many, many people are resigning over this gay marriage issue and the Church's involvement in it."

Now, the last time Utah saw Andrew Callahan, he was delivering anti-Prop 8 petitions to the LDS Church in October, but now, on Callahan's website, “Signing for Something,” there is a new section.

It's reserved for those resigning from or leaving the LDS Church.

And Callahan tells the story of one heartbroken LDS woman in California.

"She doesn't want to be associated with the bigotry and she doesn't want, in any way, to be responsible for teaching the young children to be bigots," said Callahan.

Callahan estimates on his website he's heard from hundreds of resigned or resigning LDS members.

This includes not just Linda Stay but also nine other members of her family.

Callahan also says it includes his 16-year-old daughter but not yet him.

He says, "I am disgusted as everyone else, but, because they asked me to resign, I don't want them to feel they got what they wanted."

And Callahan's website also includes a link to something called mormonnomore.com.

This site includes step by step instructions for leaving the LDS faith.

Now, perhaps, some of the LDS members leaving the church would have done so anyway, but Callahan says since the Salt Lake Temple protest Friday, more than 200 LDS members on his website have made it clear they're now resigning as well.

twilight


it took me a few months (okay, maybe a year) to jump on the TWILIGHT bandwagon, but i'm glad i did. i read the first book on the plane to spain and finished by the time we landed in malaga. the teen girl giddy with the book's romance between a clumsy high school girl and the immortal with superhero strength came out of me. i couldn't wait until last weekend's screening of the movie and the press junkets that followed the next day. holy shit. even author stephenie meyer was there. unfortunately, she left right after the press conference and i didn't have a chance to ask her to autograph my book. other than that, i got everyone in the movie - robert pattinson! - to sign my copy, even being called "twi-guy" by edi gathegi (who plays laurent) because i had my book with me.

meeting director catherine hardwicke was pretty cool, too. she's an amazing person, so creatively out there but she gets what TWILIGHT fans - and rabid they are - want in the film. she basically asked kristen stewart and rob pat to make out in her malibu home (the same bedroom she had evan rachel wood and nikki reed in for THIRTEEN) prior to filming to see if they have geniune chemistry. awesome.

the only regret i had about going to the junkets without having finished reading the book series was that the ending was completely ruined for me. an idiot reporter asked the film's writer how the other three books would translate to the big screen. i did my best to cover my ears at this point, but was fully unprepared when she blurted out the ending of the fourth book. shit. oh well, it's not going to stop me from reading them.

bittersweet day

america elected barack obama the 44th united states president as of 8 pm last night.

yay!!

several hours later,the state of california passed proposition 8, banning gay marriage. the same discriminatory measures also passed in the states of florida, arizona, and arkansas.

le sigh.

election day

though i technically voted a few days ago via an absentee ballot, i can't help but feel two things today: one - very lucky to have the right to vote in this country, two - a little relieved that everything that has to do with this very important election will be over tomorrow. i have to say in the past year or so, i feel like i've been beaten over the head constantly with "vote for this, yes on this, no on that" so many times that to have an ending - hopefully a happy one for obama/no on prop. 8/etc. voters - tonight feels really good.

i'm waking up tomorrow with new faces voted in the white house, whether it's a mixed-race president or a female v.p. crazy but good times ahead.

i heard a bit on npr last night about something jay-z said at a political rally: "rosa parks sat so martin luther king could walk. martin luther king walked so barack obama could run. barack obama ran so that all of us could fly." pretty awesome, but i wish he would have replaced mlk's "walk" to "march," but that's just me.

update

i couldn't wait until the end of the week to post my photos. i was able to post as much as i could today and they pretty much spell out how gorgeous the sights were and how amazing the past week was. i was also going through some personal stuff at the time, so to see these photos and remember how i felt at different times of the trip really makes them even more special. there are so many stories i could tell with each one, but i thought of letting the images speak for themselves.

i decided early on that i wasn't going to bring my camera at night (and very early morning), but those images i plan to keep in my head anyway ;)

i am dead tired and just want to lay down, sleep, and catch up with cali time by tomorrow.

day five: madrid

day four: sevilla

day three: granada