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From last night's passage of an amendment to ban same-sex marriage in North Carolina, to Vice President Joe Biden's remarks about gay marriage on Sunday, this topic is a talker. Ways to tap into reaction in your area:
-- While much of the talk about same-sex marriage is in the vein of politics, it's a personal issue for some of your readers. Ask local mental-health counselors, health-care workers, lawyers and adoption agencies to put the issue in terms of the parental, power of attorney, spousal and other rights same-sex couples can miss out on if marriage is not legally recognized for them.
-- The news may have your kids asking questions. Ask family counselors how to talk to kids about being gay, and how to tell them why using the term pejoratively -- as in, "that's so gay," using it as an insult -- is not acceptable. It can be a good opportunity to open a conversation about bullying in general.
-- Look at overall marriage and divorce rates in your town. How many nuclear families are there compared with single-parent or unwed families? How many blended families are there, and how many children does your area's typical family have? The CDC and the Census bureau keep comprehensive stats.
Check out story ideas, interesting ways to use Web tools and any way journalists are reaching out to readers.
