Utah's Big Pro-Prop 8 Donors

[Prop 8 Fallout] Several e-mails and photocopies are floating through Salt Lake City calling out companies, trusts and business owners who contributed heavily to the anti-same-sex marriage California measure, and urging people not to patronize their businesses. After doing some research, I found the following contributors to the Prop 8 campaign. The information is public and you can find all donors, pro and con, here. The biggest Utah spenders in support of Prop 8, according to California campaign finance records include:

Katharine Garff, Bountiful, member of the State Board of Regents and wife of Robert Garff, CEO of Garff Motors: $100,000.

Henry Marsh, Bountiful, 4-time Olympic athlete, world-record holder in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, attorney, motivational speaker and co-founder of multi-level marketing company MonaVie, a berry juice purported to have nutritional and anti-oxidant properties: $49,000.

Kenneth Newby, St. George, owner of Newby Buick: $10,000.

Stephen Wade, St. George, owner of Stephen Wade Automotive Group: $10,000.

David Moon, Provo, general partner of Esnet, LTD, an information technology investment firm: $200,000.

Brent Bishop, Farmington, board chairman of ContentWatch, an Internet filtering software company: $30,000.

Francis Magleby, Provo, BYU art professor emeritus and painter of LDS temple murals throughout the world: $25,000.

Brent Andrus, Park City, operator of Huntington Hotels: $25,000.

Jay Clark, Centerville, co-owner of A & Z Produce wholesalers: $25,000.

Scott and Randy Wilkinson, St. George, co-owners of Wilkinson Electric: $30,000 ($10,000 each from Scott and Randy; $10,000 from Wilkinson Electric.)

Meanwhile Equality Utah, the advocacy group for the state's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, issued a press release today calling for calm in the growing number of protests against the LDS Church's involvement in passing Proposition 8.

"We must engage in civil and peaceful expressions and conduct. There is no room for violence, vandalism or intimidation -- Equality Utah objects to these acts.

... Equality Utah remains confident that the LDS Church will be true to its past public statements that it is not anti-gay. We believe the Church will show its genuine compassion for the needs of Utah’s gay and transgender people and their families who rightly ask for basic legal protections," the statement reads.

EU executive director Mike Thompson adds: "During such an emotional time, where wounds run deep, we must remind ourselves of the greater good. We must make efforts to forgive where forgiveness is needed and fix what needs to be fixed. We must find ways to work together – families in our community are depending on us. As the LDS Church stated, we can build a better society. Equality Utah is committed to doing just that.”

Another round of anti-Proposition 8 protests are scheduled around the country for this weekend, including here in Salt Lake City. In southern California, gay rights advocates have targeted several businesses for boycott, including a restaurant and car dealership.

(Holly Mullen)