This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It's time to talk about it … in school.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Utah last week is challenging the prohibition against teaching the "advocacy of homosexuality" in Utah public schools. As with marriage, Utah law no longer can distinguish between gay and straight and still be constitutional. The advocacy of homosexuality is as legitimate as the advocacy of heterosexuality, and it's safe to say Utah advocates heterosexuality.

And Equality Utah's lawsuit shows that Utah's situation is made more tenuous by its refusal to abandon its old, unconstitutional laws. Even as the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down sodomy laws and bans on gay marriage (like Utah's Amendment 3), Utah has kept them on the books.

That is a problem because also on the books is this requirement for public schools: "At no time may instruction be provided, including responses to spontaneous questions raised by students, regarding any means or methods that facilitate or encourage the violation of any state or federal criminal law by a minor or an adult."

In other words, any teacher who even responds to a question about homosexuality is technically violating Utah law because homosexuality technically still violates Utah law.

In practical terms, the lawsuit attempts to address a stark reality for LGBT youth. Given the legal pitfalls, schools simply ignore same-sex attraction. Gay students exist, but no one can talk about them. In the absence of official information, they are too often defined by the misinformed judgments of peers.

The irony is that, even though Utah has claimed to lead its young people on a moral path with its outdated rules, it is really young people who have led Utah. The cultural shift toward acceptance of gay Americans has been built on a huge attitude change among young people, here and elsewhere. And that has taken place despite laws in place to prevent young people from having a full understanding of what homosexuality is. Think how this transition might have been easier if we had been willing to let teachers teach.

Utah could choose to fight this lawsuit as it did gay marriage, but it likely will face the same results (big legal costs and no victory). Better to update the curriculum law to remove this outdated ban on a subject that cannot and should not be ignored.

But it can't stop there. We also need to go back and remove the old laws, including Amendment 3. It is the right thing to do, and it's also an acknowledgement that we're not turning back. If there was once a thought that a new U.S. Supreme Court would reconsider the same-sex marriage decision, that hope is more distant than ever in the face of the Donald Trump-caused GOP tumble this election. If Hillary Clinton wins and the Republicans fail to hold on to the Senate, the replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia likely will be a far cry from the original.

No one questions the need for 21st century curricula in any other field of knowledge. It's time for Utah schools to catch up with their students.