When I was growing up — high school in the late 60s, college in the early 70s — it was the time of the Sexual Revolution, when the slogan was "free love," but everybody knew it really meant "free sex." Now, the next generation of ideas from those activists are being disseminated and the ramifications of their message will be devastating.

Then, the message was predicated on the perspective that sex outside of marriage was okay because "All you need is love." In fact, advocates maintained, "You don’t need a marriage license; it’s just a piece of paper. You just need love."

Today, the same people who brought us that message are far more militant because they’re not just offering ideas, they’re demanding that the force of government be used to impose their values onto everybody else: "Any kind of sex outside of marriage — gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual — is okay. And, we demand that you give us the license to prove it. (And when you do, everyone who disagrees with our ideas will be breaking the law.)"

When history is written it will confirm that this effort to amend the state constitution to protect marriage was the most important issue Kentucky encountered during this generation. Marriage is the foundation of the family and family is the foundation of society — any society. Everyone knows you dare not move the foundation of a building lest the building crumble.

If we allow those who wish to re-define marriage to triumph, we will find that we’ve allowed the re-definition of a host of other terms, all of which are pivotal to future generations. Indeed, if we say that two men can effectively raise a young girl to become a well-adjusted young lady, then we’ve re-defined, perhaps rendered useless, the words "mother" and "wife." The same would be true when two women raise a young boy. How can he become a "man’s man," a "good husband" or a "loving father" when he’s never seen any of these roles demonstrated?

Fortunately, we can act now and change the course of history, not only for our families, the next generation, and the Commonwealth, but also for the nation. Clearly, this nationwide debate will be won in one locality at a time. The questions for us are "Will our locale take a stand?" "Will we take the lead?" "Will our state protect marriage through its highest authority, the constitution?"

OR, will it allow local mayors (as in San Francisco) or local justices (as in Massachusetts) to confuse the issue, create precedent, and erode that which has made our nation great — great families raising leaders generation after generation.

If we do not stand and win this cultural battle, we can begin to write the history of the demise of this nation.

I, for one, desire to start a new chapter of Kentucky history. Yes, even a new chapter of American history. One that describes how the people stood against those who would engineer a new world based on how one desires to reach sexual climax, rather than through healthy parents raising healthy children for a healthy tomorrow for all. Where adults were more interested in the children’s right to have both a mother and a father than in their own rights to have sex with whomever they got the urge. We ought to use this debate to turn America back to its roots, its foundations.

It can be done. It can start here in Kentucky. And it can start now.