Say what you will about them, but the Mormons have their ant-gay talking points down in California and Illinois and Maine. I got this email from an AMERICAblog reader who was visited by Mormon missionaries recently. Seems like all the Mormons have been schooled on how to respond to Prop 8 questions — and laying blame on the Catholics is part of the Mormon spin:

Last week, two young women knocked on my door to talk with me about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mind you, I live on the Portland peninsula in one of the most liberal neighborhoods, probably, in the country. I think our precinct voted close to 95% for Obama. So, it’s interesting to me that these two women were even venturing into this area. They started out with their typical rhetoric asking about my beliefs. I told them I was Catholic. In the past, that’s been enough to get them to move on. But, not this time. When they finally paused from their script, it was my turn. I told them that, while I respect their right to their beliefs, I would never support the Mormon Church because of its stand on gay rights and its actions in California. The younger woman immediately responded “the Catholics supported that, too.” I told them I disagreed vehemently with the Catholic Church as well and explained that this issue is critically important and deeply personal so there was no way I would ever support their church. They persisted, telling me that, like most religions, I don’t have to agree with the Mormon Church on all issues. They said that a lot of people supported the repeal of Prop 8, including the Catholic Church. Clearly, they’re ready to respond to concerns about the Mormons’ support of Prop 8 and aren’t backing down when the issue is raised. After all that, they still left a card in case I want to get more information on their church.

They’re persistent.

Back in 2005, when I worked on the campaign to prevent the repeal of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Maine’s Human Rights law, we couldn’t even send volunteers to knock doors in this same very liberal neighbhorhood, unless the household had already been identified as supporters. Yet, the Mormons send people into that same neighborhood who are unabashed about the anti-gay views of their church. That’s chutzpah. But, it shows how determined and aggressive the Mormons are.

Bashing gays and blaming Catholics. That’s quite a combo.

And, what a coincidence: The Maine Legislature is considering a marriage equality bill. So, are those Mormons really in Maine to do missionary work or are they there to do political work? Someone needs to find out if the church is undertaking political activity in Maine and possibly violating its tax-exempt status. Don’t forget, the leaders of the Mormon Church lied repeatedly about all of their activity in California. That church needs to be monitored vigilantly because they don’t miss a chance to gay bash.