Talk of a boycott against Utah grows louder…

Utah’s growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California’s ban on gay marriage.

It could be a heavy price to pay. Tourism brings in $6 billion a year to Utah, with world-class skiing, the spectacular red rock country and the film festival founded by Robert Redford among the state’s popular tourist draws.

“At a fundamental level, the Utah Mormons crossed the line on this one,” said gay rights activist John Aravosis, an influential Washington, D.C-based blogger. “They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards. You don’t do that and get away with it.”

Salt Lake City is the world headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints….

[Aravosis is] calling for skiers to choose any state but Utah and for Hollywood actors and directors to pull out of the Sundance Film Festival. Other bloggers and readers have responded to his call.

“There’s a movement afoot and large donors are involved who are very interested in organizing a campaign, because I do not believe in frivolous boycotts,” said Aravosis, who has helped organize boycotts against Dr. Laura’s television show, Microsoft and Ford over gay rights issues. “The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand. At this point, honestly, we’re going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state.”

The Mormon church put up four out of every five dollars spent to ban same-sex marriage in California. More than 18,000 legally married couples in California were forcibly divorced on Tuesday thanks to the members of a church founded by a polygamist and a pedophile with more than a dozen wives. Since all Mormons-in-good-standing must tithe 10% of their earnings to their church, some part of any dollar you spend in a Mormon-owned business—and they’re almost all Mormon-owned businesses in Utah—flows toward an anti-gay church that wages anti-gay political campaigns. Ski Colorado, Washington state, and British Columbia. Don’t ski Utah.

Honest to God: My boyfriend and I were talking about taking a trip to Utah this winter to go snowboarding. We’ve heard great things about the resorts there, and our kid wants to go, and we’ve never been. But you know what? We’ve never been to Whistler either. Or Bear Mountain in California. Or to any of the resorts in Colorado. So fuck you, Utah—we’re going to big, blue Colorado.

Oh, and the leaders of the Mormon church—which financed all the bigoted distortions of the “Yes on 8” campaign (gay people recruit children! they’re going to teach gay sex in schools!)—are out there calling on people to treat each the with “civility, with respect and with love.” Uh-huh.

Sorry, douchebags, but you can’t throw a punch like that and scream “play nice!” or “you can’t be mean to us—we’re a church!” You wanna play politics with peoples’ lives? Fine. But they game’s on now and remember: you started it.

Utah is the new Coors. Pass it on.

118 replies on “The Villains in the Piece”

  1. Hey, don’t forget to reward Montana. Sure, they might have amended their Constitution 4 years ago, but now anti-hate crime legislation is on the rise and more and more voters are supporting equality for all and the vast majority of Montanans think its time for the government to get the fuck out of people’s private lives. MONTANA ALMOST WENT BLUE!! Reward their hard work and ski Montana.

  2. Hey, don’t forget to reward Montana. Sure, they might have amended their Constitution 4 years ago, but now anti-hate crime legislation is on the rise and more and more voters are supporting equality for all and the vast majority of Montanans think its time for the government to get the fuck out of people’s private lives. MONTANA ALMOST WENT BLUE!! Reward their hard work and ski Montana.

  3. Hey, don’t forget to reward Montana. Sure, they might have amended their Constitution 4 years ago, but now anti-hate crime legislation is on the rise and more and more voters are supporting equality for all and the vast majority of Montanans think its time for the government to get the fuck out of people’s private lives. MONTANA ALMOST WENT BLUE!! Reward their hard work and ski Montana.

  6. Needs to be said. Your facts are wrong. The Mormon Church didn’t give money to Prop 8, it urged members to give (and they did). No tithing money was spent on this.

  7. From the “press release”:

    It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.

    In fact, an organized religion does NOT have a democratic right to speak up on a political issue, as long as it wants to keep its 501(c)3 tax exempt status. The argument against (admittedly probably futile) attempts to have 501(c)3 status revoked is that it wasn’t the church that got involved, but its members. This official statement seems to say otherwise, though. Interesting…

  9. What is wrong with you people?! Are other people not allowed to have an opinion? Hey you want to boycott a place that is opposed to your issues, all good and well, I’d do the same. But “we’re going to destroy the Utah brand”? Tell me how exactly this is different than what they did to you?
    People have a right to their beliefs, all of them- religious, cultural, and yes the ones opposite yours. They can defend them, even if you don’t like it. What the Mormons did was over-aggressive and you hated it. Now you are doing the same thing because it suits your cause. You are no better. What about all the people with nothing to do with this who make their living from tourism in Utah? And most of all, are not people entitled to respect for their beliefs? Isn’t this what you are always preaching?

  10. I grew up in Utah and have been living in Vermont for a few years now. While I’ve fallen in love with Vermont, I miss a few things that Utah provides: big mountains, desert, and something to rebel against. With that said, here are my opinions on the discussion:

    Utah isn’t the problem. I wish it were as simple as just blaming one state. Ignorance- and fear-based ideology is everywhere in varying levels. It’s already been said, but I don’t know if everyone has accepted this point yet: If you boycott Utah, you should be boycotting the long list of other states passing discriminatory legislation. Here’s a glimpse at how limited your domestic travel options will be: Same Sex Marriage In The USA – Map

    Progressive people in conservative states need your help. Unless you want to give up on the entire region of the country between the north-east and west coasts, you should keep this in mind. Speaking for Utah, I think John Saltas brought up a great point; Salt Lake City high school students who formed the East High School Gay/Straight Alliance in 1996 could have used as much national support as possible. Still today, the last thing we (liberal Utahns) need is liberal Californians or New Yorkers not only hanging us out to dry but boycotting our economies (keep in mind the ski, snowboard, and general outdoor recreation crowd are the only substantial group visiting our state for any reason that is not Mormon-oriented).

    Sundance isn’t going anywhere. Just believe it. On a personal level; why would you want to take this away from us? Many Utahns are trying to grow a more diverse cultural presence in the state. We aren’t willing to allow such beautiful geography to be the unchallenged dominion of the LDS church.

    Don’t venture east of the Rockies for skiing or snowboarding. This is not meant to denigrate the value of the eastern U.S., but to acknowledge regions’ real strengths and weaknesses in relation to each other. If you’re serious enough about skiing and/or snowboarding to get on a plane, then you should be going west or—this seems obvious—staying west. Come to Vermont in the summer or fall!

  12. sing with me:

    You say you want a revolution
    Well, you know
    We all want to change the world
    You tell me that it’s evolution
    Well, you know
    We all want to change the world

    But when you talk about destruction
    Don’t you know that you can count me out
    Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right

    You say you got a real solution
    Well, you know
    We’d all love to see the plan
    You ask me for a contribution
    Well, you know
    We’re doing what we can

    But if you want money for people with minds that hate
    All I can tell is brother you have to wait / Don’t you know…

    You say you’ll change the constitution
    Well, you know
    We all want to change your head
    You tell me it’s the institution
    Well, you know
    You’d better free your mind instead

    But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
    You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow / Don’t you know…
    All right, all right…

  13. it is unclear, at this point, whether prop 8 invalidates the marriages that already occurred or whether it is prospective only. there will undoubtedly be litigation over that issue, but you shouldn’t take away, with rumormongering, what prop 8 might not have touched.

  14. SKI FANS: If you are going to boycott Utah ski sites, consider Sun Valley, Idaho – even though Idaho has a lot of Mormons, Sun Valley is not Mormonville, and it is pro-gay, super liberal, very welcoming and the skiing can’t be beat. There are rumors that they will lower some prices to help pick off Utah skiiers.

  18. Wow, I’ve never seen sour grapes like this. And the amazing part is this: Mormon’s make up 2% of the voting population in California. Even if all the Mormons in CA voted (and they didn’t), they still only accounted for a tiny fraction of those who voted Prop 8 in. I’m not sure why you’re not boycotting Catholics, Hispanics, Blacks, Old People, or Evangelicals, all of whom voted for Prop 8 in substantially greater numbers than Mormons. It’s hilarious how it’s not ok to disagree with gays (a minority), but it is ok to discriminate against Mormons (a minority). Who made up that backwards rule?

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