When I was a child I used to read one of my mother's magazines every week when she was done with it and left it on the coffee table.
There was a weekly article that was the story of a young person's sexual experiences and the consequences of what had taken place.
It was a more elaborate version of an advice column whereby the actual story was the main attraction and the response from the psychologist was just a short paragraph at the end of the article.
I recall some of the stories were bizarre and disturbing incidents where a teenage girl had a forbidden relationship with a cousin or a family friend and things got out of hand.
Other versions were sad recounts of events of abuse at the hands of a trusted male figure in the family.
At first, these letters were primarily from young women since the magazine was geared towards the female population (yes, I was a young boy when I read the magazine, but curiosity is normal for boys!).
A decade or so later, perhaps in the late '80s, articles from homosexuals and lesbians started appearing, dealing with similar experiences, except with their own gender.
The shock factor of reading these brutally open and honest stories from gays and lesbians wore off after a few months.
The complaint letters to the editor subsided through time as well.
This gradual transition, where the society accepted the reality of homosexuality in a Western culture, such as the United States, conditioned the newer generations not to be so fearful of the subject or be judgmental towards the gay and lesbian communities.
Throughout the '90s and the early '00s, more and more gay and lesbian individuals admitted their sexual orientation and love interests to their friends, families and, through the audio/visual media, to the rest of the world.
More and more articles appeared in newspapers and magazines, discussing the two sides of this reality.
Many movies and television programs addressed homosexuality, breaking the Hollywood "taboo" that had once ruled the industry.
In fact, many entertainers openly admitted their sexual orientation, in some cases dispelling their public persona and that of their characters.
Let us fast forward to the current dispute over gay marriage.
The recent passing of Proposition 8 in California, reiterating the majority of the voters' view that marriage should be between a man and a woman has polarized not just Californians, but the entire United States as a whole.
The smooth transition exercised by the gay activists to highlight their equal rights in our society became a bitter and bloody battle taken to the streets.
Reminding us of some horrible events in the history of the humankind in the 20th Century, the two sides started publicly identifying and, in some cases, persecuting organizations and individuals who had made financial contributions to either side of Proposition 8.
Considering the fact that the vote counts for both sides of Proposition 8 were very close, one may return to peaceful approaches to reclaim gay and lesbian rights.
My nonscientific poll of friends and families, as well as my extended friends on various social networking sites showed me that the youth between 12 and 25 were primarily against Prop.
8 and do not have an issue with the gay marriage in California.
Perhaps Californians will vote for legalization of gay marriage if they are presented with yet another chance to vote for it during the next State elections.
Further violence and disturbance may convert those who were sitting on the fence with this debate to the opposition, making it more difficult to pass the legalization law in the future.
Just like many religious and cultural changes in the United States since its birth took decades to be realized, this issue has made a great deal of progress in the past twenty years.
We are very close to see the majority's opinion against gay marriage, which is primarily based on religious beliefs, change towards tolerance and acceptance.
Remember the late John Lennon's immortal verse: "Give peace a chance!"