Prop. 8 thoughts from an education expert

The following thoughts are by Don Sedgwick, a longtime school board member and expert on California education - thanks, Don, for letting us share your thoughts!

For me, Proposition 8 is not about denying rights to same-sex couples--I am for them! The government re-defining marriage goes much further for me, as a parent, as a person of faith, and as a school board member. My concerns are two:

1) The CA Ed. Code Section 51933 includes instruction to primary grades students (Kindergarten-3rd grade) regarding marriage. Unless Prop. 8 passes, teachers will be forced to teach that same sex marriage is the same as heterosexual marriage, as has been done in Massachusetts, where parents who simply wanted to pull their child out of school during the period of instruction that taught gay marriage, was denied the ability to do so by the courts (details of the court case attached). The "No on 8" campaign recently played ads saying that it was a lie to suggest kids would be taught differently. During the same week as those ads, the S.F. Chronicle reported that a first grade class in S.F. took a field trip to observe a same-sex wedding.

2) Separation of Church and State: Attached are details of a court case where the courts stripped a Methodist camp of its tax-exempt status for not allowing a same-sex couple to use their property for a wedding. Similar comments included are about the Catholic Charities being forced to offer adoptive babies to same sex couples even when neither the birth mother nor the church wanted to do it. Catholic Charities, who runs the adoptive services, has pulled out of Massachussetts. Similar to a California physician recently being forced by the courts to implant an embryo in a same sex couple when he preferred to refer the couple to another physician.

In summary, I have nothing against honoring all the rights for same sex couples.

I am concerned on two fronts.

One, what will be taught to children. Even in most of the Scandinavian countries that have honored same-sex unions for years, they draw the line by not allowing it to be taught to kids until the children turn 18 years old.

Two, the government blurring the boundaries of separation of church and state. When the government begins telling people by force and threat what they need to believe (and using the hammer of tax status or lawsuits to accomplish it), we are becoming less free, and less American. Public schools and other government agencies are supposed to provide refuge from being forced to believe a certain way (free from either liberal or conservative agendas). And, churches and synagogues must be left to practice their faith without undue government influence.

The S.F. courts who voted 4-3 to overrule the vote of 61 percent of the people in California in the year 2000 (prop.22) overstepped their bounds. Dozens of other state supreme courts have rightly voted that same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships can each share rights, but should not be defined as the same. Vote yes on Prop. 8.

For more information go to http://whatisprop8.com