Calif. High School Takes On Prop. 8 Play

Writer Dustin Lance Black (center) with students

High school students in Woodland Hills, Calif., didn't have to pay cash to get into their school's production of the Prop. 8 play, 8. Instead, their admission was covered by letters they were asked to write, describing their views on marriage equality, whether they supported or opposed it.

Students at El Camino Real Charter High School enacted Oscar-award winning writer Dustin Lance Black's play, 8, which reenacts the courtroom proceedings behind the trial.

One student wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times, "I had a gay uncle once and he still to this day means a lot to me," a student wrote. "He committed suicide because he was very weak from AIDS and also hated the fact no one could accept the fact he was into men."

"Jesus says that 'marriage is only between a man and women,'" another student wrote. "I believe highly in my religion and I believe what is written in the Bible."

Theater teacher Sue Freitag said she read each of the 250 letters, and decided to admit all of the students who wrote in, no matter their stance on marriage equality or the play.