Issues Surrounding California Proposition 8

By the time Election Day rolled around volunteers on both sides of the issue had spent thousands of hours making sure that the state's 17.3 million registered voters heard their message. While the campaign for Proposition 8 netted $39.9 million, the campaign against it raised $43.3 million, totaling well over $83 million altogether. This was from 64,000 people throughout the 50 states and 20 foreign countries. As such, a new national record was formed. Of course, this also trumped every other race for spending.

These contributions were a lot more than were raised by previous same sex marriage initiatives. There were actually 22 such measures between 2004 and 2006 throughout the country. The nonpartisan National Institute On Money In State Politics concluded that donations to all 22 of these campaigns combined only raised $31.4 million.

Another $37,000 in non-monetary contributions was also received from the LDS church. This was not included in the total because they failed to follow campaign disclosure policies during the last two weeks prior to the election. As such, the California Fair Political Practices Commission fined them $5,538.Crimes Surrounding Proposition 8

Unfortunately, there were also a lot of crimes surrounding this issue. It is unfortunate that people had to go to this extent but it happened and thus needs to be recalled.Fresno Mayor Alan Autry

A week before the vote on Proposition 8, Mayor Alan Autry received an email that contained death threats against him and the pastor of Fresno's Cornerstone Church, Jim Franklin. The previous weekend, both men had spoken in support of Proposition 8 at a rally at the Fresno City Hall.

Fresno's police chief, Jerry Dyer, said that the email actually said that the threat was due to Proposition 8. Jason Scott, who organized Fresno's "No On 8," condemned these threats and Mayor Autry said that he was concerned about such a backlash.

Other supporters of same sex marriage in the Fresno area were also harassed. There were "No On 8" signs torn up at the Clovis Unitarian Universalist Church and Reverend Bryan Jessup alleged that his church was vandalized nightly.An LDS Church

There was an LDS Church in Orangeville that was vandalized. It was spray painted with red letters reading "No On 8" and "No On Prop 8." Another LDS church had glue poured into its locks. The Radical Trans/Queer organization, Bash Back, claimed responsibility for this action.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Jay Boyarsky

There was a surge in anti-gay crimes between 2007 and 2008, going from 3 to 14, because of Proposition 8. The Deputy District Attorney questioned the reliability of these statistics; saying that most hate crimes weren't even reported.