My son’s school has used the auditorium at the Oakland Mormon Temple for many years for our annual winter concert. 

The auditorium can accommodate the crowd of several hundred students, parents, grandparents and friends who flock to this holiday highlight.  The huge outdoor light and nativity display add to our anticipation as we walk through the crisp night air into the warm theatre.

We relish the familiarity of this winter ritual.  The opening act is the kindergarteners (don’t they absolutely get more adorable each year?) marching down the aisles in angel garb. 

Classes rotate on and off the stage for their turn to shine.  By the time the middle school rock band lets loose, we’re all ready to rise from our seats and boogie around the auditorium.  The closing act is a corny carol sung by faculty and staff.  The winter concert is a well-oiled machine and we would not change a thing.

Or would we? 

Didn’t the Mormon Church support Proposition 8?  Doesn’t the Mormon Church oppose gay marriage?  Our school mission statement includes the standard language regarding diversity.  So should we continue to hold our concert at an institution that is not welcoming to many of our families?

Hell no. 

We pulled the plug. 

The concert will go on next week.  We’re still grappling with logistics.  The theatre will be our school gymnasium.  The sound system sucks and there is no stage.  We cannot all fit so there will be two concerts.  One for kindergarten through fourth grades and a second for fifth through eighth grades. 

I’ll boogie to the rock band but miss the precious angels.  The younger parents will miss the rowdy middle school performances as well as a glimpse of their kids in a few years.

Our children will hear honesty and commitment to the values of our secular community.  Our mission, our beliefs and what we hold important are not bullets on posters tacked up around school. 

We practice what we preach. 

I am proud.

By Marianne Lonsdale

Labels: By Marianne Lonsdale, Equality for all, Mormon Church, Prop. 8

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# posted by Writing Mamas Salon @ 12:01 AM