Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Response to Anna's "Of Mormons and (Gay) Marriage"

I really like the opening of this article - giving an engaging mystery-like opening to the issue of Mormons and gay marriage, and using said issue to introduce Karger; I was fascinated/intrigued from the outset.

It's crazy that Karger was once the bad guy behind the scenes in Republican politics, but now he's using that knowledge to aid gays and fight against Mormons. wtf. you really can't make that kind of stuff up ... maybe they should make a movie. Anyway, Mencimer does a great job of bringing all of these aspects into the article; she captures the heart of the story within the first several paragraphs and never lets go.

Mencimer also does a great job of injecting certain details into the piece that may or may not be incredibly relevant, but that flesh out the story as a whole; for example, Nancy Reagan being very "gay-friendly" or Karger's attempts to save the Boom Boom Room. Mencimer really captures Karger's personality through small details and anecdotes like these. She chooses her quotes with care; they shed light on Karger's humor, his relative disposition towards certain subjects - "Karger may be a gay man fighting a movement that considers him an offense to God, but he is first and foremost a political operator. He shook Brown's hand and joked with NOM's lawyer about his impending deposition. Afterward, leaving the building, Karger was buoyant. 'If I had a budget, I'd be dangerous,' he said with a big smile." A genuinely good read.

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