Friday , January 23, 2009
Tom Hanks says he's sorry he told FOXNews.com that Mormons who supported California's constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage were "un-American."
"Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California's Proposition 8 as 'un-American,'" the actor said in a statement through his publicist. "I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination."
"But everyone has a right to vote their conscience; nothing could be more American," the statement continues. "To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are 'un-American' creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use 'un- American' lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have."
The "Big Love" producer made his original remarks at the Los Angeles premiere of the HBO series last week.
“The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told FOXNews.com. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now.”
Read Tom Hanks' original statement in full.
Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, responded that "expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets."
Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, added, "Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience."
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Source: http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,482266,00.html
Mr. Hanks:
My family has lived in this country before it was a country. I have had at least one of my ancestors, and now cousins, fight in every war this country has been engaged in - all the way from the Revolutionary War to the current war happening in Iraq. I am American - yes, a flag waving American!! I am also LDS (aka Mormon). I think you would be better off making movies than spouting your idiot comments to the press about how "Mormons are Un-American". You have no clue. There were plenty of Catholics, Baptists, and other folks who do not want to see the California Constitution be changed because women want to marry women and men want to marry men. I would strongly suggest you keep to memorized scripts, because when you speak and think for yourself it is making you look like a fool!!!! I for one will not be seeing any films that you are involved with (in front or behind the camera) and the ones that I do own will be in the trash by the time I go to bed tonight.
