Prop. 8 trial testimony ends

[alp227]

Source: Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

(01-27) 17:51 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Testimony in the federal court trial over California's Proposition 8 ended Wednesday in San Francisco with an advocate of male-female marriage maintaining that the rights of gays and lesbians must give way to society's interest in promoting traditional families.

Sponsors of the 2008 constitutional amendment called David Blankenhorn, founder of the Institute for American Values, to make the case that allowing gay and lesbian weddings would weaken marriage - a potentially decisive issue in the clash over the ballot measure's constitutionality.

In two days of testimony, Blankenhorn predicted fewer heterosexual marriages and more divorces and one-parent households if marital rights are extended to homosexuals.

But a lawyer for gay and lesbian couples challenging Prop. 8 confronted Blankenhorn with his declaration in a 2007 book, "The Future of Marriage," that "we would be more American" if same-sex marriage were legalized. Blankenhorn sought to reconcile his statements Wednesday, saying gay and lesbian couples and their children would benefit but marriage as a whole would suffer.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/27/BAL51BOH1D.DTL

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I've also followed the full scripts on prop8trialtracker.com. It's been some good stuff, and it appears that the Prop 8 apologists seem to be slipping and evasive. Closing arguments go down in March!

Overall, I congratulate the court for taking on the tough questions on family values that the anti-equality crowd has been begging for years. Let the bigots choke on their own hatred.

[Zoeisright]

1. Prop Haters do not have a legal leg to stand on.

Restricting rights of any group is anti-Constitutional.

[Celtic Merlin]

2. I've been married for over 25 years.

"Gay Marriage" is, to me, simply "marriage". "Gay" marriage is not different from my marriage. My wife and I welcome all gay and lesbian married couples to the institution of marriage, for the institution is stronger when more people are a part of it. Placing gender restrictions on marriage is wrong morally, ethically, legally, and constitutionally. It will be a joyous day to be an American when Proposition Hate is finally put to death. Perhaps between today and the March date for closing arguments in this case, we can celebrate the end of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" as President Obama promised us in his State of the Union address.

Gay Equality is making headway. Perhaps 2010 will be remembered as a watershed year in the struggle for gay rights. Perhaps the bigotry against the entire GLBT community will begin to rot away starting this year.

Let us all hope and work together for that goal.

Celtic Merlin
Carlinist

[HillWilliam]

3. Kick and Rec 5

I've been watching the tweets live from NCLR and a couple of others in the courtroom. It would appear that the plaintiffs have done a fantastic job presenting their case. It would also appear that the defendants have done everything they could to shoot themselves in the foot. One of the witnesses for the defendants was warned that his demeanor would weigh in the decision, but he still acted ugly on the stand anyway. I guess the H8ers just can't help themselves. They've presented absolutely nothing to defend their position, while the plaintiffs have presented stacks of studies and impeccable expert witnesses.

I'm cautiously optimistic. There's a long recess coming up and everyone will be called back in a couple or three weeks for closing arguments. Then an opinion will be handed down some weeks after that. Me, I've got butterflies. There's no doubt that if we win, it will be appealed. On what grounds, it's anybody's guess. The way the wingnuts have spun the daily reports, I'm expecting that they're about to gin-up screams of "activist judges" again.

Here we go. Hang on to your hats.

[dmr]

4. Closing argument in March? Do you know why?

I tell you, the arguments they are using are so stupid, I can't believe they are actually using them.

The only way to keep the divorce rate down is to disallow marriage.

Thanks for the link (prop8trialtracker.com), I'm going to go over and read later today.

[M155Y_A1CH]

5. k&r n/t

:kick: