Prop. 8 battle rages over whether gay marriage would be taught in schools
Proponents say defeat of the measure would lead to such lessons. Foes cry fear-mongering and say there's no mention of marriage in the ballot item. The reality is complicated.
It was supposed to be a quick, 90-minute excursion, a noontime field trip for a group of San Francisco charter school students and their parents to see the kids' lesbian teacher marry her partner in a wedding performed by Mayor Gavin Newsom.
But after the event was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle and picked up by cable television and the Internet, the first-graders at Creative Arts Charter School found themselves at the center of the hottest battle in the campaign over gay marriage: the question of whether failure to pass Proposition 8 would result in widespread classroom discussions of same-sex unions.
Supporters of the constitutional amendment, under which marriage would be defined as only between a man and a woman, contend that if Proposition 8 does not pass, gay marriage will be taught in public schools. "We are already seeing that happen," said Frank Schubert, campaign manger for Yes on 8.
The opposing side insists that this is fear-mongering and notes that there is no mention of schools or curriculum in the language of the proposition.
"They just made something up in order to scare people and change the subject," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
To buttress their case, Proposition 8 supporters point to a legal decision out of Massachusetts, where same-sex couples have been able to wed since 2004. After a second-grade teacher in Lexington read a book to her students that included two princes marrying, the parents of a child in the class sued the school district.
The parents, devout Christians who oppose gay marriage, contended that the teacher had read the book to her class "for the express purpose of indoctrinating them into the concept that homosexuality and marriage between same-sex partners is moral." This, they said, intruded on their "right to direct the moral upbringing of their own children."
A federal court dismissed the case, finding it without merit, and earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the dismissal, letting the lower court's ruling stand.
The child's parents will be featured in a new Proposition 8 ad that will begin airing this week.
School districts and the California Department of Education, meanwhile, are getting a steady stream of calls from the media and parents wanting to know whether gay marriage will be taught in schools if Proposition 8 is defeated.
