Opinion: Everyone wants a say on Proposition 8

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Public officials come out of the woodwork to comment on high-profile news events, such as the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8. Maybe they figure the public eagerly awaits the mail carrier’s opinion on the matter; more likely, they’re simply establishing their alliances.

Among an inbox stuffed with such statements today, one of the odder emails comes from Monica Garcia, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District board.

‘And for the hundreds of thousands of LAUSD students, [the court’s decision is] a lesson that reverberates in the home and through the hallways, where bullies teasing students over their sexual orientation will continue with impunity.’

That sentence begs for a second and third reading. Proposition 8 has nothing to do with schools or what happens in their hallways. The L.A. school board, which Garcia heads, has everything to do with it. Surely the district’s anti-bullying policies forbid harassment of gay and lesbian students. Garcia’s memo, by predicting that this bullying will continue, in essence tells us that this bullying has been going on ‘with impunity.’ And the reason she cannot stop it is because of a state Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage?

Commenting today on Proposition 8? Fine. But it sounds like tomorrow, Garcia has some major work to do enforcing the policies in her school district. The Proposition 8 ruling constitutes a sad day for same-sex couples, but it can’t be blamed for chaos in L.A. Unified’s hallways.

Photograph by Damian Dovarganes/AP