8: The Mormon Proposition

Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black narrates this earnest but underwhelming documentary about the strongly anti-homosexual stance of the Latter-day Saints, and especially its monetary and organizational influence on the 2008 passage of Proposition 8 in California. 8: The Mormon Proposition is highlighted by its many moving testimonies from long-term gay couples denied their marriage rights, as well as from young Mormon homosexuals browbeaten into self-loathing by the Church’s teachings. However, directors Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet lean too heavily on both cheesecloth re-enactments and cheese-ball music cues, and few of their so-called “revelations” (e.g., religious organizations aim to directly influence elections, the Mormon Church tithes its flock up the ass, etc.) aren’t exactly surprising. There is a dewy-eyed sincerity to 8, but Kirby Dick’s Outrage is a far superior documentary about the intersection of gay lives and gay politics.