Good lord! I suppose I knew Steve Young was a Mormon during his 49er quarterbacking years, but I sure forgot about it, and I don’t think I ever knew of his serious Mormon pedigree. Young of the Brigham Youngs. While his wife is careful to distance Steve from an official position, he’s obviously against the official church position, or he wouldn’t be supportive of her work. This from SFGate (h/t Daily Dish):
Young isn’t only a Hall of Fame quarterback. He’s also the great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young, the second president of the Mormon church. The church has pushed hard and publicly for Prop. 8 and Mormons have pumped millions into the campaign.
Young also isn’t just any church member. During his years in the NFL, he was one of the nation’s most visible Mormons. He graduated from BYU, which was named for his ancestor, and received his law degree there. In a 1996 “60 Minute” interview, he said that he still had plans to go on the church mission he missed in college and had no problem tithing 10 percent of his earnings to the church. He retains close ties to Utah, married his wife, Barbara, at a temple in Hawaii and even served as narrator for a short video on the Mormon church and its history, done for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah.
. . . While it’s Barb Young’s name that appears on the checks, she made it clear in a statement issued today through Equality California that the contributions are a family affair.
“We believe ALL families matter and we do not believe in discrimination, therefore, our family will vote against Prop. 8,” she said.
Later, she clarified her remarks with this update: “To expand on my earlier email, I am very passionate about this issue and Steve is completely supportive of me and my work for equality. We both love our Church and are grateful that our Church encourages us to vote our conscience. Steve prefers not to get involved politically on any issue no matter what the cause and therefore makes no endorsement.”
Absolutely Steve shows which side he is on. He supports his wife, attends Gay campaign parties, and never says how he will vote just that he will vote. What is a person suppose to think? Check all the gay web sites. They are thanking Steve for his support so not saying anything is making a huge statement. Let’s see him crawl out of this one.
“Crawl out”? I’m not exactly sure what you’re implying there, Kristine. Care to come right out and say it? If Steve wants to be muted in his support, fine by me; I respect people who have to navigate deep religious conviction amidst the cross-currents of their church’s worldly activities.
“Gay campaign parties”? Qu’est-ce c’est, ca? You make it sound so terribly lurid. If you’re one of those people who believes gays and lesbians are somehow morally inferior to y’all, you’ve definitely come to the wrong place.
I’ve always wanted to attend an 1890s-themed campaign party.
Thank god for you and your brilliant sense of humour, woman! I got a creepy Sodom & Gomorrah bible fundie on one of the other threads. Ugh. Some days, it feels like we are in the 19th century rather than the 21st…
As Bono sang, don’t let the bad ones get you down.
Your snark, I love it so…
[...] Barbara Young is another Mormon who has gone out against a ban on gay marriage (http://angryxer.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/steve-youngs-household-comes-out-against-prop-8/). [...]