Ann Landers Would Advise Voting No on 8

From the schoolyard to the church, Californians are debating Prop 8, which would bar homosexuals from marriage if it passes Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times opened its opinion page to five more takes on it today:

• Alexandra Cole, whose 8-year-old daughter polled her friends, says Prop 8's backers have done more to make schoolchildren aware of it and "provided a giant teachable moment on gay marriage."

• Richard Peterson calls the measure "a reinstatement of the people's will" after it was usurped by activist judges, and that "dignity and respect for all individuals" will likely flourish if traditional marriage is upheld.
• Lola Van Wagenen cannot understand why fellow Mormons would line up behind Prop 8, given that "our ancestors were violently and relentlessly attacked for their 'peculiar institution.'"
• Margo Howard says her late mother, Ann Landers, would advise her readers to oppose Prop 8 because "she was convinced homosexuality was determined by genetics and dead certain that people were hard-wired in their sexuality."
• As a straight woman, Maggie Gallagher says she too has a stake in the debate because marriage "is a public union, not just a private union" that signals to children how a functional, disciplined society works.

(More California stories.)