I'm heartsick that Prop. 8 passed. But now what? How do we go forward? I like what danah boyd has to say:
I think that we need to spend the next year convincing those around us that this is discrimination. I think that everyone - gay and straight - needs to start conversations about what it means to be in a same-sex loving relationship. I'm not interested in trying to convince people that their churches should accept same-sex marriage. I'm interested in helping people understand that church marriages are not the same as state marriages. And that when it comes to the state, it's of utmost importance that there's no discrimination. The Catholic Church is more than welcome to discriminate wrt marriage. They already do. You can't get married in a Catholic church if you're not Catholic. But the state should not be discriminatory, especially when so many rights and freedoms and economic benefits are afforded to married couples.
Update: Shouldn't marriage equality be a very top issue for Americans United for Separation of Church and State? Blog posts there:
May 2008: " Many Californians, religious and non-religious, have an opposite understanding. They see the referendum as a battle for church-state separation. They have families too, and they don’t want them to live in a theocracy."
October 2008: "Look out, California, the Religious Right is bringing out the big guns!"
October 2008: "Here’s the bottom line: When it comes to religion and government, let no church group join together, what the Constitution hath put asunder."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
I also think that educators need to make it very clear that gay marriage will not be a focal point of our curriculum.
Posted by: ms_teacher | Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 11:15 AM