Mormon Church trying to overturn marriage equality in Maryland

From the Huffington Post comes this unfortunate bit of news:

Mormons are gathering signatures to bring a referendum on Maryland's marriage equality law to the ballot in November, as the state's pro-gay marriage coalition hires a new leader and a recent poll shows more support in Maryland for the law.

The Washington Blade reports that Mormon Church members are actively working to overturn the law legalizing same-sex marriage that was signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley in March, making Maryland the eighth state to legalize gay marriage. Maryland's law will go into effect in January 2013, if the state's voters don't repeal the law in November.

The Blade published an email sent to Mormons in D.C. and southern Maryland, asking for help gathering 200,000 signatures to bring a referendum on the law to Maryland voters in November -- here is an excerpt from the email:

As you have probably heard, the Maryland legislature passed a same sex marriage bill last February. A coalition of inter-denominational churches throughout Maryland has joined together to try to get a referendum on the November ballot that would allow the residents of Maryland to vote on this bill before it becomes law. Martha Schaerr, who is a member of the LDS Church, is organizing signature collection within Montgomery County and within the LDS Church. We need to collect approximately 200,000 signatures by the end of May. We are looking for people to gather signatures within the LDS community. If you are willing to help with this important effort please contact Martha Schaerr as soon as possible at martha.schaerr@gmail.com or Teressa Wallace at wallacemail@juno.com.

And what's more, when pressed about its possible involvement, the Mormon Church denies it. However, it is difficult to believe this denial:

Mormon Church officials told The Blade that it is not involved with the referendum effort -- but The Blade finds parallels between the Maryland effort and the Church of Latter-day Saints' efforts in California:

Dale Jones, an LDS spokesperson, said the church has no direct involvement in the effort to overturn the marriage law in Maryland. 

“While the Church’s position in support of traditional marriage is well established, the effort in Maryland is not being organized through the Church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City,” Jones said. “Members, of course, will make their own decisions regarding their involvement in local issues.”

But the message recalls the Mormon Church’s lead role in passage of Proposition 8 in California in 2008. The First Presidency of the Church, or its governing body, publicly backed the initiative and reportedly encouraged members during church services to take an active role in contributing money and get-out-the-vote efforts to support the ban’s passage.

Read the entire article here.