Protestors frustrated at the passage of Prop 8 in California who have marched around the LDS Temple in Westwood, California and are planning similar activities in Salt Lake City this evening at the Mormon headquarters are not helping their cause certainly from a public relations perspective. And, as for the LDS Church, it, too, must deal with some significant public relations issues.

The hallmark of any issues management campaign requires patience, an incrementally phased dialogue cultivated with strategies and tactics that inform, educate, and compel us to frame this issue in positively affirming ways. As Andrew Sullivan notes, this is no time to “revel in victimhood,” and this certainly extends to the efforts of groups to use the courts to litigate this electoral decision.

California was a disappointing setback, no question. It would have been the grand prize, so to speak, in the fight for marriage equality but the issue has hardly been decided conclusively. At the other end of the nation, voters in Connnecticut bucked attempts to halt same-sex marriages which become legal as of Nov. 12 in that state. And, in the country’s electoral giant, a swing of just a quarter of a million votes would have resulted in a defeat for Prop 8 supporters.

The potential court fight is worrisome, especially as lawyers will seek to argue that Prop 8 represents a significant change to California’s constitution and, therefore, any change would have needed to be initiated by the state legislature. Legal scholars do not agree about such claims and many have characterized the strategy as a long shot at best.

However, the biggest concern is the visceral tide of emotions that’s propelling these abrupt, rash decisions — in the realms of the court room and in the sphere of these protests. Going back to the legal realm, I was struck by Bill Aralza’s comments here:

“I hope advocates don’t make other, more radical claims. I’ve heard people talking about arguing that Prop. 8, when combined with either the suspect class status of sexual orientation or the fundamental nature of the marriage right, requires that civil marriage be rescinded entirely, with presumably only a non-discriminatory civil union status remaining. The technical merits of the claim aside, I can’t imagine a judge accepting it. More importantly, that argument strikes me as a public relations catastrophe: after arguing for months about the importance of marriage it would be seen as a scorched earth policy of denying the right to everyone rather than continuing the hard work of obtaining the right for ourselves. I can’t imagine lawyers pressing this argument, and I hope they don’t.”

It’s time to let the drama cool and for supporters of marriage equality to review their strategies and tactics and to plan the fight for another day, especially as other states throughout the nation begin to come to terms with this issue.

And, as for the LDS Church, the public relations challenges are far more intricately complex. A friend of mine, who has much experience in dealing with constituencies frustrated by the often-glacial rate of change on certain issues, has some wise words for Mormons as well:

“Frankly, I think it might be interesting to challenge members of the LDS Church (’Church’) who believe the Church and Thomas Monson have gone too far. I would challenge those members to send a month of tithing to a charitable organization, perhaps PFLAG or another group doing advocacy work.

“When the Church steps into the political arena, it is time to start dealing with the Church as a political entity rather than as one of faith. If Monson and Church leadership want to step into politics, they should have to deal with political realities. One of those realities is funding. Time for Church leadership to be called on that, not through a lawsuit or a challenge to tax-exempt status but through a logical appeal to their membership.”

As well, these protests do little to promulgate the difficult, albeit far more successful, approach of consensus building. I can load up any skeptic with countless case studies from the public relations arena of how responsible, effective issues management rarely includes the use of such protests as viable tactics.

The reaction to this particular defeat echoes with an irony that must be properly placed. On the same night that Prop 8 was defeated, a majority of this nation’s voters placed their trust in a new president who represents a profound change in our fundamental political dialogues. The coda finally has been sketched on the era of identity politics.

The road to marriage equality will not be quick but it is inevitable. The defeat in California is an opportunity to shift the campaign away from the courts and into the more appropriate realm of public opinion. Marching around Mormon temples will accomplish nothing.