Prop 8 Passes ... Now What?

I'm glad the ban on gay marriage in California passed, but that doesn't end the debate. I don't believe this safe status will last long. Nor do I believe it is right to permanently close the door on gay marriage. We just need to make sure it's ripple effects don't steamroll religious liberties or the rights of parents to educate their children.

What we should be doing now is finding solutions to the dangers we saw in legalizing gay marriage. We should be coming up with legislation to ensure that ministers won't be forced to marry gay couples, that religious adoption agencies won't be compelled to send children home with gay families. We should be crafting alternatives to public school sex education curriculum which not only educates teens about sex, but trains them to do it. Most importantly, we need to become better educated about these issues so we can strengthen our positions on them.

There are models around the country for sex ed approaches that put these decisions into parents' hands instead of the public schools'. One in Massachusetts, called the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program, was created by two churches.

On the OWL website it states, "Our Whole Lives provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality. "

This isn't a perfect program from what I see, but there are some good ideas to be taken from it.

Even from religious perspectives that don't condone gay lifestyles, I don't think we can justify denying homosexuals the right to marry (or whatever you want to call it) indefinitely. We just need to make sure there are protections in place for the principles of a healthy society if and when gay marriage is legalized.