Minorities Behind the Zion Curtain

I really should apologize for all of these harsh words, stereotypes and unsympathetic statements I have cast upon the entire Mormon population. They are in fact the most genuine and loving people on the planet so long as you are not gay, lesbian, atheist, black, brown, tan, or any other conceivable form of minority. The fact is that it’s very hard to believe a Church that is almost completely of a single skin color that preaches the word of kindness and acceptance. The exact opposite comes to fruition when these minorities are judged by the Mormon rules and teachings in place

Gotta love that acceptance and understanding

One of the most prominent opinions that the LDS church has is that homosexuality is an unnatural and evil behavior. As stated in the book or Mormon, homosexual actions and practices are one the “serious transgressions” against God and the Church. Other serious transgressions that homosexuality is equated to include rape, murder, sale of narcotics, and sexual abuse. Really now? Homosexual feelings being considered as dangerous as murder and rape seems far more than excessive. But the Church has reformed their complete intolerance of homosexuality as recently as the mid 1960’s when they began to accept openly gay and lesbian individuals into the Church. That is so long as they never show, practice, or express these feelings and make every conceivable effort to hide, and smother them through intensive therapy, prayer, and reform. The Church frequently cites individuals who have “reformed” and “given up homosexuality”, but fail to acknowledge the frequent suicides that occur by gay and lesbian persons within the church who are forced to internalize their feeling and thus deal with intolerance and severe inner turmoil.

Protest against same sex marriage at an LDS Temple in Los Angeles

But it would seem that those with homosexual feelings have it easy since they can still rise to any level within the Church so long as they are able to hide and conceal any natural inclinations they may have. This is not so easy for individuals of nearly every race and nationality other than Anglo-Saxon Caucasian westerners. It has been the view of the church from the birth of its existence that anyone with skin of a color other than white was born that way because God decreed them ‘evil’ or ‘sinful’ in a past life and thus marked them with dark skin. This idea is expressed in several stories within the Book of Mormon where Native Americans were considered to have been made ‘red’ by God because they didn’t accept the second coming of Jesus in North America as a reality. If you thought that was intolerant of the Mormon Church than you are going to love what they think of the rest of the world.

Magazine cover depicting the struggle for minorities to rise to higher levels in the church due to discrimination and lack of acceptance

Additionally persons born in third world or struggling countries are viewed as being placed there by God through fault of their own in a past life. In other words it is a fairly common belief within the Church that God ‘segregated’ the world by placing all of these people in different places because of their ‘true nature’ and ‘sinful practices’. These views and beliefs directly tie into why the modern Church only aids individuals in other countries who adopt the LDS religion as their ‘chosen’ faith. The result of these practices have long caused the Church to be predominantly white, and members to have a minor phobia of other races at the least and full on violent actions against them in the worst case.


As a result of all of this, Utah has long been one of the most Caucasian states in the United States, but recently out of growing diversity within urban areas of the state, the Church has adopted various policies of ‘acceptance’ towards minorities. These include reaching out to aid minorities and struggling populations as well as allow non-white persons to become missionaries or ‘elders’ within the church. Unfortunately it seems that these policies didn’t come out of the good intentions of the modern church but rather the need to increase membership and conversions into the church. In most cases whenever a large population of non-white persons are converted to the LDS faith only a small percent remain in the church as they find that the initial acceptance they received was only a means to get them to convert and simply transforms into racial tension and discrimination soon after. If you can take nothing else away from this, simply remember that the LDS Church and Jesus love and accept you, just so long as you are a straight pure blooded celibate white male who only associates with other straight pure blooded celibate white communities.

Men on a Mission

O, Missionaries. Funny looking guys in white shirts and cheesy ties sent around the world on bicycles to preach the word of Mormon to the uneducated and the unwilling. I was blessed with dealing with these pairs of unnaturally joyful individuals nearly every weekend morning for as long as I can remember. When I was a tot they simply asked if my mommy or daddy were home and left me enjoy the bliss of Saturday morning cartoons.

Yeah they're everywhere

Once I got a bit older they began to try and “tell me the word of God” before my dad would come to the door telling them that we weren’t interested or my mom would come out with guns blazing telling them to, “get the hell out of here for the last time!” Before long I was aware of what being Mormon entailed and was actually able to have a conversation with them. Blind faith in their religion replaced reason and no matter how severely I cornered them, they continued preaching “the truth of Jesus in Zion” and the debate never went anywhere and ended up wasting both our times. Best saturday EVER

This is the most common scenario that each and every missionary of the LDS church encounters in their time an elder for the Church of Ladder-Day Saints. Two years of door to door preaching, without pay, without relationships, and without most any kind of outside contact or influence. From East L.A. to Amsterdam you can find them getting doors shut in their face and pamphlets thrown back a them as they try to ‘teach’ the unwilling. All the while not converting a single person on there entire mission.

When conversions into the church do occur it is almost always in either rural or third world areas where no set form of education exists, or for individuals who are plagued with poverty and addiction. The latter accept the church because not only are they accepted with open arms but also given a free plane ticket to Salt Lake City, Utah where they are effectively bribed into the church. I agree that this is a great gift that the church offers people who are suffering elsewhere in the world, but only allowing those who convert to the Mormon Church to receive these benefits? Something simply doesn’t sit right with me about that. In the end all that you can hope for when the boys in white come knocking is that they won’t notice you as you scurry away from view, and if you value your weekend time as much as I do than scurry you will.

Utah Law Enforcement

Whenever I come home to Utah from school in Vancouver I tend to forget about the quirks, problems, and abuse that occurs in the state. The main issue being the immediate shift from law enforcement officers in Canada who are present to help and protect you while working to solve prominent problems that face the society and community where they exist. To Utah where the police are under the pressures of making quotas and thus spend the majority of their time seeking out prominent but overall useless infringement of laws that are flawed to begin with. In other words, they try to find as many underage drinkers, minor drug users, and misdemeanor crimes as possible without doing any actual police work.

Some of the highest rates of meth use and production exist within Utah’s state borders and gang violence is far from on the decline. But on a Friday night you won’t find twelve squad cars and two K-9 units out trying to help resolve these pressing issues. You’ll find them chasing a bunch of high school kids from their parent’s house as they leave the keg and a plethora of plastic cups in their wake. They might get one or two kids who will end up with a misdemeanor offense of Minor in Possession (carries a small fine on the first offense), but in reality nothing is solved. In fact a couple thousand dollars of tax payer’s money just went down the drain so a couple kids would have to move their party to a park some five minutes away. This is a constant game of cat and mouse in Utah where preventing underage drinking is so important that they have devoted an entire task force to the ‘problem’.

In nearly every other state, country, and continent they have realized the futility of this pursuit and instead have chosen to socialize the practice of drinking, and the result. Not surprisingly, more responsible drinking. Once the practice becomes acceptable and not taboo, the tendency is to respect alcohol far more and not abuse or fear it as often happens in areas like Utah where such extreme restrictions are prominent.

But you have to give these officers some credit, because once in a blue moon they will manage to actually find and prevent a major distribution of drugs from occurring. Maybe it was the posters plastered across the city, the massive website devoted to the event, the guest list of over 3000 people, or the secluded location, but somehow they managed to find out about one of the largest raves to ever occur in the Beehive State. Such an event occurred in the summer of 2006 when over twenty members of Utah’s SWAT team teamed with an already extensive police force to break up the colossal party. Massive amounts of alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy, mushrooms, and cocaine were confiscated and numerous arrests were made. Unfortunately all of these arrests were of security guards who had already confiscated the drugs from people coming into the party, anyone who had anything to do with the actual distribution or sale of the substances was quick to get rid of any and all of it when the helicopters and dogs showed up. The result? A lot of dismissed cases, wasted tax dollars, and actually a surge in demand for the drugs as a vacuum was created after everyone lost their personal stash.

Utah SWAT Team arresting a security guard at the outdoor rave, video here

Even the day to day practices and attitudes of the police in Utah are so obscene that dealing with them for even the most trivial offenses can soon become a question of jail time and abuse. Whether it is questioning a traffic ticket, talking back, or even putting your hands up to surrender, all can quickly result in a swift beating and the addition of resisting arrest to any offense they try to pin you with. The reason, a pure and simple power trip, in a place where you are taught to be hyper-obediant and subservient from the day you are born, the slightest bit of authority can cause some of the worst power trips ever witnessed. Jumping a fence? Tasered. Want to get you handcuffs loosened? Tossed over the banister. Skateboarding in the street? How about a nice side swipe from a squad car. Whatever the offense they will find away to take the repercussions too another level, but in the end that’s just the Mormon way. Violence and excess for your own good because remember, Jesus loves you.

WWJD?

The Church-State

“The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and engrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to J. Moor, 1800

Separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones that defines (or at least used to define) the United States. While usually this refers to the not allowing governments to control any religions body and those who practice it, it also refers to direct religious influence being used to dictate and drive a government. This second part creates a major grey area of what should be allowed in both federal and state politics, and the LDS Church is swimming in that grey goodness.

For all technical purposes there is absolutely no direct connection between the leaders of the Mormon Church and the heads of state government, at least currently or in the recent past. Still a profound influence and direct connection exists between Utah State Legislature and the LDS Church. Let’s clarify.

Every Sunday of every week some sixty plus percent of the Utah state population attends church at an LDS church or sees the various live telecasts of these sermons on television or online. Each of these various sermons is coordinated and based off several central points layed out by the heads of Church. These points can range on everything from Jesus’ teachings, to current state policy, to who to vote for in an upcoming election. So all of a sudden despite the democratic process we have over fifty percent of the population immediately inclined to vote, support, and fight for a cause that the Church has dictated to be the best one. So instead of some two million people making up their own mind and deciding for themselves, the decisions are effectively left up to a very small group of church leaders. Oligarchy anyone? Kind of makes me happy that Utah only has three electoral votes in the electoral system.

Front of the main LDS Mass area, this is only about two percent of the total space that the sermon takes place in

This fact is what makes Utah the most conservative State in the United States. As soon as you combine a state’s natural conservative population with a sixty percent majority you are left with a democratic process that is not only extremely biased, but biased due to a specific religious power. Obviously similar situations exist in nearly every other religious gathering from many other denominations, but nowhere else can you find such a sweeping majority of the democratic population so blindly obedient to the Church they are a part of.


Living in this climate can be rather frustrating when you are not of the majority both in religious affiliation and political views. In fact this is why Utah also has the highest rate of vote swapping, since so many people here actually do care about what is happening but simply have no means to illicit change on a local level. This inability to spark change is also what causes such heated clashes between various groups within the state. I think Steve-O from SLC Punk says it best.


“In today’s world of apathy and acceptance, revolution comes hard, but in a religiously oppressive state where the majority of the population is not even of that religion. It comes like fire!”
-Steve O, SLC Punk, Paramount Classics

They bought main street!?

The immense power and persuasion of the Mormon Church is evident across Utah on a daily basis. Whether it is Sunday morning and the complete lack of open businesses, or the massive church related structures that take up most of downtown and many of its surrounding suburbs, it’s hard to miss the influence all around you for the people right down to the very architecture of the city. This fact was made very evident in the late 20th century when the church acquired a new piece of property that shocked many of Utah’s resident, both non-LDS and LDS alike. They managed to pull off a deal with local politicians that allowed them to purchase a major and central portion of downtown Main Street and convert it into a church plaza.

Former main street with LDS temple behind it

That’s right; the local Utah government effectively sold very public property (i.e. a major city street) to a private religious body that had absolutely no plans of making the area a public space or creating some kind of alternate route of transportation. The one block stretch of road was quickly renovated and served as a massive plaza area connecting various buildings such as the LDS Temple, LDS Conference Center, and various office buildings directly associated with the church. Even the area beneath Main Street became a massive parking structure for church goers to use exclusively.

Obviously this created a major uproar among much of Utah’s liberal population as it was, well illegal. Guidelines exist that prevent city officials from selling public space such as city streets to private bodies without a series of votes from various public offices. But due to the lack of funding and manpower against the body of the church, the sale went through almost unopposed and before long a massive reflecting pool and church walkway was erected where main street once sat.

The issue was further pushed after construction was complete when the Church took their new found property and made some very unique rules regarding the area. Free speech began to be controlled by restricting the area of allowed protest to small out of view areas, not allowing people to stand still or walk backwards in the plaza sidewalk area, and prohibiting the use of any sound amplifying devices. Believe me we’ve gone out to the plaza on more than a few occasions to test these rules and they are in full effect; walking backwards will get you an escort from the plaza, standing still will get you hustled out of the area, and a fisher price karaoke machine will be confiscated without a second thought.

Protest area designated by the LDS Church

Once again a protest against these rules was present but due to the sheer majority of LDS church members, it eventually proved to be ineffective. Like so many other aspects of the LDS Church’s rule over the state, traditional means of public debate and protest become nearly useless in such a church dominated state. Instead creative means of protest and opposition have sprung up across the state, comedy and irony being the most readily available tools. That combined with the ever growing population of diverse individuals moving to the state has finally created a great base of opposition. This is not to say that I want the Church to all of a sudden have no power, simply that all people will have a voice that can be heard over the booming influence of the church and have some kind of effect in a government that is theirs just as much as anyone else.

Mass Media and Utah

One might wonder why such a massive preconceived notion of the Mormon Church and Utah as a whole has occurred. The most plain and simple answer is that people choose only to see what they find outrageous or entertaining. No matter how many publications, documentaries , movies, or TV specials come out and try to clarify the two subjects, they will always fall short of the mass drawing power that stereotypical based entertainment can offer.







The first and most obvious form of delivery is the news, both in print and on television. It’s hard to contend with some two hundred million people hearing about a polygamist colony being raided and disbanded, or a prominent polygamist being on America’s Most Wanted List. Even if these events aren’t taking place in Utah they are immediately tied to it due to the Mormon connection. While this image is far from wrong, the point is that it’s a pinhole approach to what Utah and its residents are really like, both those outside of and within the church. The fact is that while the Mormon population is the majority in the state overall at approximately 53%, the percentage of LDS church members in urban and metropolitan areas is closer to 20%. Unfortunatly facts like these and many far more relevant and important ones concerning global issues will almost certainly continue to be overlooked and ignored by the masses.

No wonder people think Utah is weird if this is all they see

Shows like HBOs Big Love fall into a similar category of focusing on the fantastical or outlandish aspect of the Mormon population and once again generalizations are made by the general public. These generalizations grow and propagate until eventually that is the only idea of Utah that people have. This is not to say that these outlandish practices don’t occur (there are plenty more that often go unreported) but this view, like so many others, is so narrow minded that it fails to encompass the quality of the state and the people within it as a whole.

One of many 'silent' protests that mock the image that Utah gets

Utah’s amazing natural landscape, the amazing people who live there, and the constant protests and revolutions that go unheard and ignored by the rest of the world are what should define the state. But instead the close minded view of Utah and so many places just like it will undoubtedly continue so long as we choose to let others inform our thoughts and opinions so totally and completely.

Alcohol Part 2

Alright, well how about bars you ask? Sorry no bars here in good Ol’ Utah. What we have is a small loophole known as private clubs. These are essentially the same thing as any ordinary bar or club except that in order to get in you need to either purchase a private membership (think cover but now your name is in a statewide database used to track and prosecute you) or be a guest of a member. Each member is allowed only one guest and they are liable for any and all actions taken by their guest. Sounds fun right? Wait until you try and go out to dinner.



At restaurants they are not allowed to advertise what kinds of drinks they have and instead have to be asked for specifically. Next up you are only allowed to have one drink in front of you at any given time and no more than one serving of alcohol can be in any one mixed drink so doubles are out the window. The crème de la crème is nice little thing that has been affectionately dubbed the ‘Zion curtain’. As a result of a law passed several year ago, no drinks can be poured in public view and instead have to be mixed behind a physical barrier. The intention being to prevent people from being tempted to drink, but in reality it simply draws more attention to the practice as a shroud of taboo and mystery is further cast around both the subject and action of alcohol consumption.

Current 'Zion Curtain' at Utah Restaurants

While various attempts are being made to normalize Utah’s policies on alcohol, an equal number of counter laws are being written to further emphasize the already extreme practices in effect. Two such laws are currently on their way up Capitol Hill that would accomplish two such things. The first would bolster the Zion Curtain already in effect by making the current glass screen a ten foot high wall that all drinks would have to be mixed and poured behind. Probably the most literal version of sweeping dirt under a rug that I have ever come across. The second is a bill that would outlaw anyone from appearing drunk in public. Really? Appearing drunk a crime? Aside from being impossible to really test for the law would be unfeasible to enforce. Since common symptoms of drunkenness include decreased motor skills, slurred speech, and inability to control the level of one’s voice. It looks like clumsy individuals, loud socialites, and anyone with a speech impediment are looking at some serious jail time.

In the end these various laws and regulation simply hold up a mirror to the contradictory nature of the church. In almost every other religion where alcohol is banned as part of the church teachings, it is banned totally and completely. While in Utah it is prevented and simply made an inconvenience due in part to the vast number of non-Mormon residents, but also the fact that there is absolutely no mention of abstinence from alcohol in the actual Book of Mormon. No hymn, parable, or verse exists that prohibits this act. It simply comes down to a Mormon Church teaching that has been brought about outside of the church’s original intention and is being forced upon a population widely not of that faith. All of which is under the disguise of ‘being what is best for them because deciding for ourselves is out of the question’. Fascism at its best.

Alcohol Part 1 of... well... many

Alcohol laws in Utah, simply put they represent not only the most backwards part of Utah, but also show the degree of control that the church itself has within the government. Every one of these laws exists due to the fact that the Mormon Church does not allow alcohol as part of their religion. But since the prohibition ended nearly a century ago and not every citizen in the state is Mormon, a series of odd rules, regulation, laws, and loopholes exist. In the end they do absolutely nothing to curb the amount of alcoholism, underage drinking, or drinking related incidents, but simply serve as a reminder that the LDS church is in fact in control here.



Let’s kick this crazy train off with three point beer. Only beer with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent or less can be served in places like grocery stores, gas stations, etc. This is supposed to prevent drunkenness in public and discourage drinking in general, but in reality it does little to nothing to this effect. Because let’s face it, a person who wants to get drunk is going to get drunk no matter what percentage of alcohol is in their drink. If they have to drink twice as much than double it is and now instead of a drunk, you are left with a sloppy, smelly, overweight, and generally poorer drunk. Not fun to be and even less fun to hang around, but no worries we have liquor stores where all the full fledged alcohol exists in all its glory.


Political Cartoon following the original introduction of 3.2 beer


Well sort of, thanks to another slew of liquor laws all liquor stores are state run. This means that they are the sole owners and distributors of ‘full point’ beer and all other kinds of alcohol. All the wine, vodka, gin, and schnapps you could ask for but getting it is about as easy as convincing a teacher that your dog ‘really did’ eat your homework. These stores are in such small numbers, so remote, and open at such limited hours that they quickly become a non-option. That and the fact that most tellers are in fact police officers causes more than a few parties to get shut down before they even start up. In the end it’s actually easier to make the hour long pilgrimage from Salt Lake City to Wyoming where all the booze, fireworks, and pornography you desire can be purchased without consequence.



Confused yet? Tune in for Part 2 for more of the amazing, fascinating, and weird!

Mormonism 101

Disclaimer: If you are looking for a history of the Mormon Church this is the wrong place. Wikipedia, the Book of Mormon, and South Park have done a far better job than I ever could. This is simply the truth of living in Utah and the endless baggage that goes along with it.

It’s always funny traveling to other places around the world and telling people that you’re from Utah. Whether it’s Wyoming, Canada, or even Singapore everyone seems to have some very preset notions of what people from Utah are like. The conversation usually starts with and always leads to, “So does that mean that you’re a Mormon?” Some people are tentative about asking, others very forward, but the topic always comes up and I find myself not only explaining that I’m not a Mormon, but also that not everyone in the state has twelve wives either. Don’t get me wrong, there are numerous stereotypes that many Mormon families and individuals fall right into but it’s always the outrageous and the outlandish ones that people hear about, the ones that represent a tiny portion of the Mormon Church and even smaller part of the state as a whole.

First off, polygamy, this topic has been beaten to death from all sides for as long as I can remember. Whether it is massive polygamist colonies being discovered across the state, or TV series being based off the idea, this has been the singular most popular topic that is connected to the Mormon Church. In reality polygamy is an ancient Mormon practice that has been all but dropped from nearly all sections of the church. The only group that still embraces the practice is the Fundamentalist Church of Ladder Day Saints. These are the core group of individuals who are essentially a cross between the Amish, Pilgrims, and every preconceived notion you have about Mormons as a whole. Living in small colonies out in the desert, they’re influence on the image of the rest of the Church is equivalent to that of fundamentalist groups of Islam. Just like not every Islamic churchgoer is a suicide bomber, not every member of the LDS Church is a polygamist. Understand? Good. Moving on.

Conservatives. Yeah we have quite a few of those floating around Utah. Being the most conservative state in the Union has its roots in the Church where hyper-obedience is expected and that’s what is almost always offered up by all its members. In other words, “have blind faith in God…and everything we tell you to do.” This causes the church to have control over a majority of the population, and since the church is ultraconservative, all its members are, you guessed it, ultraconservative. This results in a slew of government policies and social practices that are interesting to say the least, but I’ll get into those later.

You want sexual repression? Don’t worry, we got it. Whether it’s your sexual preference, public affection, or even the amount of nudity at strip clubs, the church has a direct influence on it both in a social and legal manner. Walking down the streets of downtown Salt Lake City on a Sunday morning can be equated to a massive ‘Leave it to Beaver’ episode. No affection, no minorities, no skin, just perfectly ironed abstinent suits and obedient dresses as far as the eye can see.

The list goes on and on, and with almost every oddity or quirk within the state you’ll find the Mormon Church standing behind it. Every block a church, every family six kids with a dog, and every parent a valium addiction, that’s the Mormon way.