The Presidential election took a back seat long before Nov. 2, 2008, the actual day of the election. Our families in Arizona and California did their part to support what was seen by many as a far more important issue: protecting traditional marriage and families.

Chris wrote from Arizona - "on Sunday, I called registered voters in Willcox asking for their vote on prop 102, the marriage amendment. We had a yard sign up next to the road also. I am glad to see that voters in all three states that had it on the ballot passed it."

The Bess family in California worked many hours to support Proposition 8. Katherine summarized their efforts: "The bishop called me on the Sunday we had General Conference and asked me to be in charge of the signs for our zipcode,....that included picking up signs at a central location, coordinating efforts to get signs out to all the addresses of people who supported Prop 8 and said they would be willing to put a sign in their yard. We gathered those addresses as we walked the precincts and called people on call sheets in our zipcode. It also included putting signs up around Wildomar the day before the election and replacing signs that were vandalized. And of course, taking them down within the week after the election.
When we were waving signs last Monday, most of the people honked and gave us the thumbs up sign. We got a much smaller percentage of the one finger salute and almost no profanity being yelled at us. Thankfully we don't live in San Francisco. I really feel sorry for the members there."

The California vote was considered too close to call late Tuesday, with word coming Wednesday morning that the referendum to amend the California constitution -- defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman -- had won.
Despite these efforts, Proposition 8 obtained a slim majority (52.5% to 47.5%). Exit polls showed the proposition was supported by 7 of 10 Black voters, a majority of Latino voters, and by people with children under the age of 18 still at home. Clearly, it was supported by all people who believed marriage is a special and protected institution.

...the scenes on the television, literally drove me to my knees in prayer for the safety of the temple, the members, and our church. A lesson I have learned several times before, caused me to expand my prayers to include those who were opposing us for they are not our enemies – they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Tolerance is not agreement and should not be a one way street. However, we must still remain tolerant of those who are intolerant.
Recognize the adversary at work here – making good seem bad and evil seem good.We can only be disciples of Christ when we respond to adversity in a Christlike manner. To do less opens our actions to the influence of the adversary and hurts us even more.

We should never take for granted the opportunities we have to gather together in worship. We should never put off the opportunity to attend the temple. For these valuable things can be disrupted and possibly even closed to us – if not permanently, then at least on a temporary basis.
Pray. Often. Don't forget to include those who are set against you.

And finally, have no doubt President Monson ...will surely reveal knowledge to us on the Lord's timetable. Meanwhile, we must support and trust him, his inspired councilors, and our inspired local leaders in our actions. Their actions of Christian courage will be our examples.

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html