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What does "teaching same-sex marriage" in Maine schools mean?
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In the ongoing debate about the merits and consequences of allowing same-sex marriage in Maine, proponents of the people’s veto have emphasized a strategy of tapping into parental fears. Two commercials feature claims by Stand for Marriage Maine that same-sex marriage will be taught to young children if voters do not strip same-sex couples of marriage rights on November 3rd. (See commercials at the end of this article). A new commercial stokes the fears higher, seeming to suggest a coordinated homosexual agenda to indoctrinate children.
Mark Sullivan, the Communication Director of the "No On One" campaign, says Stand for Marriage has raised the issue as a red herring and a distraction from the real issue facing Maine voters. “The proponents of question 1 do not want to discuss the merits of whether it is fair to have a separate but unequal system that discriminates,” he says. “There are families throughout Maine that are not traditional. These couples exist whether Question One passes or not. Their children are in our schools, and they need to be given the same opportunities to thrive as children of traditional families.”
Sullivan and others point out that nothing in the new law requires the teaching of marriage, and that the Maine Learning Results do not contain a requirement for teaching marriage. The Maine Learning Results are used by schools across the state to identify essential knowledge and skills to be achieved by Maine students.
Shenna Bellows, the Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, says that denying same-sex marriage is harmful to the children of same-sex couples because their families do not fit the mold currently described in Maine law. “The children of gay and lesbian couples are living in our communities. We need to do everything to ensure that they too feel safe and respected in school. No one should be discriminated against.”
Opponents of same-sex marriage, however, view any discussion of same-sex relationships as age-sensitive, and they oppose any suggestion in schools that same-sex relationships are legitimate, regardless of whether it is in a formal curriculum. “When marriage is discussed in schools, it will no longer be between a man and a woman,” says Scott Fish, Communication Manager for Stand for Marriage Maine. “It will be gender-neutral.”
“To me," he says, "the other side really parses language “We never said there was something in the law that requires teaching marriage… The words they use, dignity, respect, equality…they’re not in the bill either.”
Although not able to be specific about how the mention of same-sex married couples would be harmful to children, Fish believes he is speaking for the majority of voting Mainers. “If same sex marriage is legal, it will be discussed as the same as a marriage between a marriage between a man and a woman. Our side disagrees, and we think that when Mainers learn that about the bill, they will object as well.”
Response commercial from Protect Maine Equality:
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