EDITORIAL//PROP 8

In the recent 2008 election, Proposition 8 aroused much controversy in the state of California.  Although this proposition affected only California law, this issue was thought to have far reaching effects outside our state.  The passage of this proposition prohibited same sex marriages in the state of California already made legal by the state’s Supreme Court only a few months before. 
The people who came out for this proposition are for discrimination.  What happened to equality? Isn’t that the reason people come to the USA in the first place?  Americans have always believed in the power of the freedom and equality – should this include our gay citizens?  The history of America is a history of how we welcome more and more people into our American community. It seems that we excluded people with the passage of Prop 8. With Prop 8, we have cut off the rights that other citizens have. 
Americans are for change, for new leaders and experiences, but this discrimination started long ago.  Now that such progress has been made, do those who vote yes on 8 really think that it is right to segregate people according to sexual orientation?  America has been prejudice against the Chinese, African Americans, Japanese and many others, are homosexual couples just another group to be added to that long list of heartbreak?  With the election of the United States of America’s new President, it would appear that America was taking a step in the right direction for change, has California caused this great influential change in America’s history to move backward? As a nation, the United States was considered the promise land, but those promises fall short when we deny gay citizens the same privileges of getting married as straight citizens. 
What is the legal difference between someone who is gay and someone who is straight?  Laws are supposed to make everyone equal. But this law discriminates.  Since when did Americans put a barrier upon deciding whom we can love and cannot? With love comes the desire to be with that person forever, which is the general idea of marriage. The difference between heterosexual love and homosexual cannot be shown to be greater or less equal than the other. What if it was the other way around? What if it was illegal for a man and a woman to get married but legal for two people of the same sex to get married? Can you imagine if you could not marry the person you love, because it was forbidden from the law?  If the Constitution says that men are created equal then why should gay people be discriminated against? When discrimination becomes okay in this country, opportunities become limited and the unity of America deteriorates.  Why should people of certain religions be accepted but people with different orientations are not? Americans and residents of California have increasingly become more hypocritical and unwilling to change for the good of the country. 
The arguments against gay marriage are typically ridiculous, and ridiculous is the only word that can describe them. Even assuming all of the emotional arguments with no logical basis,  what remains is a random assortment of exaggerated facts and simple untruths. Gay couples do not create gay children. The defeat of this proposition would not have result in the indoctrination of our children with “gay tendencies” in schools.  We agree with Senior Jessica Mason, “Prop 8 has to be one of the worst pieces of legislation I have ever experienced. It’s not right to take away people’s rights just because you don’t agree with them.”
In the Bill of rights American citizens are given the freedom of religion.  However, do those religions who allow same sex marriage suddenly become invalid because another religion has changed California’s state laws?  This country was founded upon the concept of a separation of the church and state from the government. The purpose of America is to give EVERYONE freedom, opportunities and a better life, how can we enforce these promises if discrimination is practiced because of Prop 8?  What do we mean when we say we are “one nation” but discriminate against our fellow Americans? Are we all not Americans?

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The Bay Eagle welcomes viewpoints on all matters. Signed letters and articles represent personal viewpoints and not that of the staff. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the editorial staff. The viewpoints expressed are not those of the El Segundo School Board, Administration, Faculty or Staff. The Bay Eagle is a public student forum. First Amendment of the US Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.