Though folks’ opinions on the relevance, purpose, or ideology of the act of marriage are wide-ranging and often heated, viewers will see that 8: The Mormon Proposition is a documentary that brings home the idea that the current debate over gay marriage is not about having all unions simply recognized; rather, it is about civil rights, being entitled to equal treatment and protection under the law and in our society, and how money can influence politics.
Through interviews with numerous politicians and activists in and outside the Mormon (LDS) community, 8: The Mormon Proposition meticulously creates a context for the LDS Church’s massive campaign to influence California’s voters to pass Proposition 8 (legislation that would continue to define marriage in California as between a man and a woman), by describing the Church’s “model” strategy created in Hawaii in 1998, when the campaigned funded (but not fronted) by the Church resulted in voters passing a constitutional amendment to define marriage in Hawaii as between a man and a woman.
We simultaneously follow the journey of a young male couple married in San Francisco in 2008, whose families are Mormon. As they describe how they were affected by battles over Prop 8 on both sides, the film continues to move deeper into the Mormon belief system in order to show why the Church has gone to great lengths to influence this legislation, and how the Church’s campaigns were implemented by using the religion‘s ideology and the insular culture of the LDS community to influence Church members to donate “means and time” to the campaign. The film goes on to examine how this culture has affected GLBTQ people who live in Utah or who have grown up in the Mormon faith, with heart-breaking footage. The camera follows homeless youth in Salt Lake City into an abandoned building and, when the cameraman asks one of the kids about hope, the young man replies, “There is no hope.” People are interviewed about their attempts at suicide after coming to the conclusion that their families will reject them for being gay or lesbian. One man recounts his experience as a student at Brigham Young University not too long ago, when he was subjected to shock treatment after appearing on a list of possible gay students.
This documentary, narrated by Dustin Lance Black (who wrote the screenplay for Milk and is a writer on HBO’s Big Love), is seamless in how it is shot and edited. This high polish quality does leave out certain issues however, such as how the LDS-funded advertising tapped into the feelings of California residents who voted for Prop 8, which includes issues of race and sexism. The film is, overall, white male-centered (though this, in part, is due to the makeup of the LDS community and ideology), and it does not make an attempt to delve into issues of race and gender.
Overall 8: The Mormon Proposition is a fantastic documentary that would succinctly speak not only about gay marriage, but about human rights and the power of propaganda. Recommended for any GLBTQA collection, for academic and public libraries.
Reviewed by, Jesse Nachem
Records Specialist at the University of California
