A dollar for Twilight, a dime against gay rights

I’d never actually thought about this, but…

Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon. She tithes 10% of her income to the Mormon (LDS) Church (it’s a requirement for members and she’s stated publicly that she does so).

Stephenie Meyer’s income from the Twilight Saga–books and all spin-offs–is vast, around $50 million in 2008 according to Forbes. That’s a tithe of $5 million to her church, in 2008 alone.

This means that every time you buy a Twilight book, or a ticket to a Twilight movie, you’re supporting the Mormon Church.

The Utah-based Mormon Church bankrolled the passage of the anti-gay bill Proposition 8 in California, with 77% of the donations made to the opposition coming from Mormons, at the active urging of their church leaders.

And that means that every time you spend money on Twilight media for which Meyer is compensated, you’re indirectly funding the aggressive campaign against gay marriage rights by the Mormon church, which is now being extended to other states.

Now, for the vast majority of authors, this probably isn’t something worth bothering about. I’m not going to concern myself with the causes that, say, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro or P.N. Elrod may or may not support. They have a right to their own choices–as does Stephenie Meyer, of course. But $5 million a year isn’t exactly chump change, and it’s being given to an organization that is using its substantial influence over its members to manipulate legislation in order to take basic human rights away from an already persecuted minority.

This is troubling me. I’m not bashing the Mormons here. It’s not their beliefs, their organization or their views that are a problem. It’s their actions. No one’s actions are above reproach when said actions cause real harm to innocent people. That’s especially true when the actions are being applied globally, against individuals who have no direct contact with those who are acting against them.

But maybe this doesn’t bother anyone else. *shrug*