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October 26, 2004Leland students tune in to controversyMGTV allows interactive debateByRecord-Eagle staff writer LELAND - Without ever leaving Leland, high school government students shot questions about controversial state ballot Proposal 2 to Lansing - live on Michigan Government Television. The constitutional amendment proposal would limit marriage to unions between men and women. "I thought I was going to vote yes," Sam Simpson, 18, said after his class interviewed a representative from each side Friday. "Now I think we should stay away from the word marriage in the constitution because of its religious roots." Kristina Hemphill, a member of Citizens for the Protection of Marriage, and Coalition for a Fair Michigan spokeswoman Wendy Wagenheim were in Lansing with MGTV forum host Bill Trevarthen. The students used compressed video technology to steer the conversation from a classroom in Leland. Their teacher, Ed Wodek, said it was a great way to get them involved in politics. "You can't get any more active than this," he said. "And the ability to be on statewide TV is pretty cool." Stacey Osiecki, 17, asked the spokeswomen for each side how same-sex marriages affect family values. "I believe that the union of marriage is the foundation of family," Hemphill said. "We want to define it as we know it (between a man and a woman.)" "We have many children here in Michigan who aren't part of a traditional family and that doesn't mean it's wrong," Wagenheim added. Bekka Sneed, 17, wanted to know if it was fair to create laws against gays and lesbians when homosexuality could be biological. "It is bad public policy and completely mean-spirited to make laws that would discriminate against anyone," Wagenheim said. Hemphill said her support of Proposal 2 was not an effort to discriminate. "I got involved because of my beliefs about marriage, about defining it as a union between one man and one woman," she said. While Simpson found reasons to rethink the proposal while researching his question, Sneed and Osiecki are sticking to their opinions. "I think the definition of marriage is one man and one woman and nothing else," Sneed said. "That's where I stand." "I'm very strongly against it," Osiecki said. "I don't think we should discriminate against other people's differences. It's not fair." An annual mock election at Leland High School Thursday also will be featured on MGTV. This year's event is expected to include appearances by candidates for local U.S. Congressional and state House districts, as well as judicial seats.
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