Nobody really was a direct "winner" stemming from the victory of Proposition 8. Gays and lesbians obviously lost. Anyone who knows and cares about gays and lesbians lost too. Everyone else is a wash, as their marriages are in roughly the same shape that they were a week ago.
But apparently, someone may have gotten a big boost from Prop. 8's passage, almost by accident: Mitt Romney. Recall that Romney's bid this time around was derailed in part by social conservatives who simply did not trust that he was "one of them" -- in part, it must be said, because Romney was actually rather socially moderate until approximately five days before he began his presidential campaign, but certainly in part because there is a lingering mistrust about Mormonism from within the conservative Christian community. But now Marc Ambinder notes that the LDS has purchased significant social conservative credibility due to its role in getting Proposition 8 passed -- credibility that will only be strengthened as the forces of godlessness, paganism, and equality continue to train their fire on the church.
Best of all for Romney, this occurs nearly entirely under the table. The only tangible impact is a lessening of suspicion conservative Christians have towards him on account of his Mormonism. He never took a front-line position on Proposition 8, and thus will see no more liberal backlash due to his anti-equality position than any other similarly situated Republican.
Romney's keeping his toes in the political water, and probably will run again in 2012. With the unabashed support of the Christian right, his candidacy will be far more formidable.
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While Romney doesn't seem to have gotten involved with Prop. 8, perhaps because it didn't really take off until he'd already bowed out of the GOP primaries for this year, he has been quick on the trigger on other states' dealings with same-sex marriage decisions, and has announced support of the Federal Marriage Amendment (which McCain opposes and Palin supports).
Ambinder provided no sourcing or back up for his post. I want a bit more before i concede that the LDS has become accepted as a mainstream christian church by the other denomination.
Actually, the LDS funding of the Prop 8 campaign is part of the church's attempt to win the hearts and minds of mainstream and evangelical Christians. The sting that Mormons felt over the
anti-LDS sentiment expressed during the Romney campaign was a wake-up call to those who had been lulled into the sense that they were seen as equals among the religious right. Ironically, bigots are bigots. Evangelical Christians will no sooner accept Mormons as equals than they will accept gays as equal. They will, however, be happy to take your money.
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