Protests against Proposition 8 supporters

[2] The highly emotional, closely contested nature of the voter referendum created a political maelstrom that was unusual in intensity for its time.

Anti-Proposition 8 activists looked up supporters in state-government-required donation documentation, then posted their names and personal information, and organized protests at their places of work.

[3] Several religious buildings were vandalized, and several Proposition 8 supporters received death threats, were mailed envelopes of white powder resembling anthrax, or lost their jobs.

Supporters of the proposition included a coalition of religious and social conservatives that felt the court ruling had redefined marriage.

On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits challenging Proposition 8 but denied the requests to stay its enforcement.

The actions brought awareness to marriage rights issues for LGBT people and the role of tax-exempt churches in this political campaign.

[6][8] Supporters of the measure, such as Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of the National Review Online, and Jonah Goldberg, a Los Angeles Times columnist, have referred to some of the backlash as religious bigotry, especially since many of those targeted are members of the LDS Church.

[6][26][27][28] Gregg Araki, an independent filmmaker who is gay, Jeff McDonald and John Marelius of the San Diego Union-Tribune, and others have articulated arguments depicting this characterization as misleading and provided possible justification of such actions.

[8][28] Various individuals and groups have decried actions by those opposed to Proposition 8: Before the vote, Alan Autry (the mayor of Fresno) received an email containing death threats against both himself and Cornerstone Church pastor Jim Franklin.

According to the LDS Church's spokesperson for the Sacramento area, the vandalism that they were victims of in the ten days after the election was more than they usually get in an entire year.

"[45] In November 2008, the United States Postal Service delivered envelopes containing white powder to the LDS Church's temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City and to the national headquarters of the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut, prompting a hazardous materials response and a federal domestic terrorism investigation.