July 19, 1999

A heated political battle is underway in California over the issue of same sex marriage. Part of that battle pits gay activists against members of the LDS Church.

For one side of this debate, it's a case of a church going too far. For the other, it's a matter of free speech.

News Specialist Nadine Wimmer went to California and has the first in a series of in-depth reports.

LDS Church leaders call this a moral fight for the family.

But one San Francisco city leader and gay activitists say it's a political fight, where the church has overstepped its bounds.

The city by the bay...known for its sights, seafood and stronghold of liberal politics.

It's here where gay and lesbian activists oppose a statewide initiative to recognize only marriage between a man and a woman.

Mike Marshall, of "Californians for Fairness" says, "It's sole purpose is to denegrate a category of California citizens, gays and lesbians."

Rob Stutzman, the initiative campaign manager says, "The reason it's on the ballot is the moral imperative to have marriage remain as it has since about the beginning of time."

Both sides are preparing campaign letters and signs.

Supporters, backed by a heavy hitting campaign firm, have collected more than 700,000 signatures, and support from dozens of churches, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with its 740,000 California members.

In fact, California church leaders were instructed to read a letter from the First Presidency at the pulpit asking members to "do all you can by donating your means and time to assure a successful vote."

"It doesn't try to tell anyone how they should live their life. It merely is forward looking and trying to keep things as they are."

"It's really intruding into politics of California in an innappropriate manner, given the Church doesn't really have a presence in this state."

The issue has now come all the way to California's state capitol, where the Attorney General has been asked to investigate whether LDS leaders crossed the line separating church and state.

One San Francisco lawmaker points out that the LDS Church enjoys tax exempt status as a so-called "501-C-3" organization.

He wants to know if the church violated that status by the way leaders got involved on this issue.

Supervisor Mark Leno, of San Francisco, says, "That they would be able to weigh in on a particular vote and ask for money in the same letter as a 501C-3 organization, it got my curiosity."

But to initiative supporters, his actions look like a deliberate attack on a church's right of free speech.

"If he's suggesting that people of faith do not have a place of discussing public policy in the public square, then that's alarming."

To this point, LDS Church leaders have responded in a statement that, the church is simply adding its voice to a broad-based coalition of many who feel strongly about preserving the traditional family.

Is the LDS Church on firm ground in this moral and political fight? We'll have arguments from both sides in our next report.

Read Part Two