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Orin Hatch and My Tithing
By Steven Fales | July 6, 2010
Orin Hatch recently said that gays don’t pay tithing. How rude. That suggests that we are godless. And that we should be feared because we have excessive amounts of money because we don’t have children either. Well, he must not realize how many Brokeback Mormons there are here in Zion.
Before Mormon Boy opened off Broadway, I was living and working in Salt Lake City serving at a restaurant called The New Yorker. It is one of the original fine-dining and red-wining restaurants in Utah. And they have banquet rooms for business luncheons and end-of-the-year employee appreciation Christmas lunches.
One room that I was assigned included Orin Hatch as a guest. This is the man who crucified Sonja Johnson at the U.S. Capitol when she spoke out in favor of ERA. This is the man who used to call Carol Lynn Pearson on Christmas Eve when her book Good-bye, I Love You came out. And now here I was, a gay man serving this U.S. Senator his salmon. He only drank water with lemon. No iced tea. I gave him the best service I could. I made it a point not to introduce myself in any way. I was just an anonymous server that he was polite to. (That’s progress for me.)
I look forward to one day listening to all the songs he’s recorded. Now I know why he called Carol Lynn Pearson. He wanted to be Carol Lynn Pearson. Well, as far as her song-writing career goes. I wonder if they are still good friends? And if he still calls no that she was in 8: The Mormon Proposition.
I just want him to know that even after I pay my child support, I put a few dollars in the collection plate at St. Mark’s Episcopal. My tithing is as straight as his tithing is. And my excommunication letter from the church tells me I am not allowed or worthy to pay tithing!
But his songwriting is as suspiciously gay as mine. But that’s okay with me. I believe in creative outlets. Even when his songs are just used as sentimental propaganda to “win friends and influence people.” I’d love to hear the songs he would write if he didn’t have the pressure to be so perfect.
Senator Hatch, listen to my song “Mormon Boy” and then give me a call. I wrote that song for Mormon boys just like you.
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