The Overturning of Prop 8

The halls of Beverly Hills High School will welcome you whether you are gay, straight, bisexual or something in between. It has become less and less taboo to be different.

The vast majority of students at Beverly support same-sex marriage. With the recent overturning of Proposition 8—the California Marriage Protection Act—BHHS students seem to be celebrating. Although most agree that straight marriage and gay marriage is not entirely the same thing, there remains no moral justification for giving them different names.

But increased acceptance still doesn't make being openly homosexual in high school any easier. Our teenage years are where we feel most vulnerable, so it is only natural that teens stab at each other's insecurities in an attempt to front their own. Religion, politics and family values aside, coming out of the closet is most difficult in high school when your peers are the ones judging you.

"I think the overturning of Proposition 8 is fantastic," said Jordan Klein, 17, a 2010 Beverly graduate who is attending USC in the fall. "But it's amazing how little attention it has received from the youth, who seemed to be so fervently active in the gay rights movement after the original passing of Prop 8."

I still feel as if most youth in America do not want to be publicly labeled as gay. Although Beverly has a fair share of students who are completely open with their sexuality—not to mention a Gay-Straight Alliance club—it would be foolish to believe that all our students are 100 percent comfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage.

I'll admit, when I came to Beverly (fresh from a private Jewish school), I was indeed more closed-minded simply because I wasn't exposed to as many viewpoints as I am now. But I soon came to realize that people can't help whom they love, and they can't help who they are. It's illogical for our government to try to apply legislation that regulates the affection that two consenting adults have for one another.