My roommate and I have been counting down to Thanksgiving since mid-October. I was thrilled to be going home and having my mom’s delicious stuffing. And she was excited to have a few days off from classes. She’s from Arizona, and instead of heading back home, she was going to spend the holiday with her mom’s best friend’s family.
Until last week, that is, when the rug was pulled out from under her. The family hosting her Thanksgiving dinner consisted of two gay men and their adopted children. After finding out that my roommate is Mormon, they un-invited her to Thanksgiving dinner.
After Prop 8 passed in California, Mormons have been subjected to a major backlash. It’s true, some Mormon wards did ask their congregations to write letters in support of the proposition and Mormons did donate quite a bit of money to the Yes-on-8 movement. But it’s also true that political and personal beliefs don’t always mesh and that the actions of the group do not represent the beliefs of an individual. I know ardent pro-lifers who have friends who’ve had abortions. The pro-lifers don’t love these friends any less.
I have no idea where my roommate stands on Prop 8, but I do know that she is one of the sweetest, most tolerant individuals I’ve met. She has gay friends. Yet none of this mattered once her hosts found out she was Mormon.
She’s not the only one to be subjected to this type of discrimination. I’ve heard stories of Mormons getting spit on. Mormon temples are protested. “Blacklists” of Yes-on-8 donors are circulated around the Internet.
I’m really angry about this. Hatred breads hatred. Intolerance breeds intolerance. My roommate’s would-be hosts had the chance to rise above a major conflict and to welcome her into a loving same-sex home. Instead, they left a girl all alone on the East Coast with no place to go for Thanksgiving.
After a lot of last minute negotiations, she found one last seat on one last flight back home to Mesa. So it worked out in the end. But not before she was told that her faith made her unwelcome in someone’s home.
Anyway, I was interested to hear what any of you think about this whole thing.
