Colofornian, I believe the context in which I thought I was making that post is relevant. There had been discussion about the difference between practices by individuals and public statements and teachings by the LDS church (this is going to exist in all churches; an issue was whether is was more prevalent in this case and I had not not expressed an opinion).
A poster stated "the [LDS] church also opposes [correctly, of course] pornography in any form." In response I noted the studies regarding porn usage and porn busts in Utah.
There's nothing in the studies saying that all of those porn users are LDS. According to the mormon.wiki, Utah is 72% Mormon. Perhaps the remaining 28% are doubling down on the porn because it's not otherwise available to them in Utah (although with free porn available, I don't understand the number of paid porn subscriptions in Utah, whether it's gays, Methodists, agnostics, Jack Mormons, BIC TBM Mormons, or . . . whether stays in Marriotts count).
I will note that the church didn't oppose porn in any form when in-room porn became a large revenue-producing part of the Marriott chain (over $160 per room, per year).
In 2001, Mitt Romney stepped down from the Marriott Board of Directors over the in-room porn issue, after serving for ten years, when running for Governor of Massachusetts.
He later rejoined the board.
Earlier this year, Mitt Romney stepped down from the Marriott Board again.
Marriott also announced this year that it's phasing out in-room porn. Perhaps because it is no longer moral. Or because Mitt Romney is running for President (Story: Another step toward Romney 2012: Marriott bans porn. (Or The Economist's Story: Marriott, Mitt Romney, and porn. Or because it's no longer such a profit machine.
Or is it because business travel is down so far that the guys sitting alone in the hotel are no longer ordering it?
Joanna Brooks. The LDS blogger who calls herself Mormon Girl and who tweets so successfully on LDS/political issues as @askmormongirl that Politico named her as one of 2011's Top 50 Politicos To Watch. The 'scholar of religion and spirituality" whose writing, according to her website:
"has appeared as a source on contemporary Mormonism by the New York Times, Reuters, Salt Lake Tribune, Washington Post, Salon, BBC Sky News, New America Media, Pittsburgh Gazette-Post, The Tennessean, Headline News Network, Fox News, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and the Deseret News."
That Juanita Brooks.
The says that LDS communities have an epidemic porn problem and that Marriott's not doing this to help Mitt Romney, but in lockstep with the LDS Church's serious campaign. (If so, then why is Marriott only phasing out the porn?). Per Ms. Brooks:
"The story that’s in the news—that Marriott dropped porn to give Mitt political cover from evangelicals—may have it entirely backwards. After all, the LDS Church is on a serious anti-porn campaign to deal with epidemic porn addiction in LDS communities. And frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if the Marriott change was spurred by a heart-to-heart conversation with someone at the Church Office Building. Among Mormons, porn is considered a very serious problem, primarily for the damage it does to the marriages and families of the porn-addicted."