Marduk wrote:The church hasn't been silent in either of those places; it is just as active as it is/was in California. The difference here isn't level of activity; the difference is personal and media attention to that level of activity. Katya, most wards in California never had anything read over the pulpit about Prop 8. That was discretionary at the stake level.
The original letter read over the pulpit asking members to give of their "time and means" was never voluntary. It was to be read in every sacrament meeting in California on that Sunday. It's true that after that there was some discretion allowed to local leaders after that, but the area presidency was directly involved overseeing the effort. For example, every singles ward in southern California was asked to come up with people to fill 8 different "assignments" - we were specifically told not to call them "callings". These were things like a canvasing coordinator, a get out of the vote coordinator, a calling party coordinator, an interfaith coordinator etc. Each position had something to do with the prop 8 effort, and every singles ward was asked to come up with 8 of them, and to report specifics back to the area authority overseeing. Normal wards didn't have as many callings, they just asked people like the relief society president to work on making sure everyone was registered to vote, and have them sponsor activities.
While I'm sure local church units in New York talked about the issue of their own accord, I don't think we've seen anything like the paid advertising, satellite broadcasts, and other large efforts coming from Salt Lake City.