Frankly, I'm more concerned about the prevalence of suicide among young gays and lesbians and that "gay" and "lesbian" are used as pejorative terms in our junior highs and high schools. Seemingly, there's a real need for support groups and greater compassion for our fellow travelers.

As much as I'd like to slam the brakes on this discussion before it goes any further, the reality is gay-straight alliances will be debated again and with great intensity. I'm not afraid of the debate. My fear is dividing communities — yet again — over an issue that is settled law.

Somehow we have to reach a place in the discourse where the debate doesn't devolve into name-calling and cheap shots. Because when it's over, no one is going to remember the high-minded conversations. They'll remember, as they do from the East High debate nearly a decade ago, when it turned ugly.

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Marjorie Cortez is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com.