Orange County Register

With proponents of the Proposition 8 prohibition on gay marriage calling just two witnesses, testimony concluded today in the challenge of the ban approved by California voters in last year.

Prop. 8 backers’ two experts to testify were the head of family values group - who said gay marriage would erode the institution of marriage - and a political scientist - who outlined the political power gays have. Plaintiffs called more than a dozen witnesses.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker has said he wants a few weeks to mull the testimony before hearing closing arguments.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the prompt to read the Associated Press story today and see links to previous trial coverage. Read the rest of this entry »

In the second day of testimony from defendants’ witnesses in the Proposition 8 trial, a family-values leader said that marriage in the U.S. is on a rocky road - and that legalizing gay marriage could prove its death knell.

David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, acknowledged that heterosexuals were responsible for the decline of marriage but said allowing gays to marry would accelerate the trend and possibly lead to the legalization of polygamy, according to the Associated Press.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the prompt for today’s Associated Press account of the trial, in which two gay couples are challenging the Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage approved by voters last year.

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Proponents of the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage began their defense today with testimony of a political scientist who said gays are not politically disenfranchised, as a plaintiff’s expert testified last week.

Kenneth Miller, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, noted that Prop. 8 opponents raised $43 million in an effort to defeat the measure last year, $3.4 million more than proponents. Debate over the political muscle of gays is an effort to determine whether they are a minority class deserving of judicial protection.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs concluded their case this morning with a video of evangelical pastor supporting Prop. 8, in which he warned that if gay marriage passed, polygamy would not be far behind.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the following prompt to read the Associated Press account of today’s hearing in San Francisco federal court.

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In their effort to prove that gays deserve the same protections as ethnic minorities, plaintiffs in the lawsuit to overturn the Proposition 8 gay-marriage ban today focused on whether sexual orientation is inherent.

Gregory Herek, a researcher of UC Davis, reported the results of a recent survey he did with gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Eighty-eight percent of the gay men who responded said they had no choice at all about their sexual orientation. The figure was 68 percent for lesbians.

Herek also testified that leading mental health groups also take a dim view of therapies aimed at making people heterosexual.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the prompt to read the Associated Press account of today’s hearing. Plaintiffs were expected to wind up their case later today or on Monday.

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A backer of the state’s ban on gay marriage testified today that gays are more likely than heterosexuals to be pedophiles - specifically, 12 times more likely.

In the federal court trial challenging the Proposition 8 ban, plaintiffs called Hak-Shing William Tam as a hostile witness. Tam was among those who signed the ballot argument in favor of Prop. 8.

Other proponents of Prop. 8 have tried to distance themselves from Tam, who believes that allowing gays to wed would lead to efforts to lower the age at which teenagers can legally have sex with adults.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the following prompt to read the Associated Press account of today’s testimony.

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Gays and lesbians are politically disadvantaged and so deserve the same constitutional protections as other vulnerable minorities, a Stanford political scientist testified today as the plaintiffs continued to present their case in the effort to overturn the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

“By any measure, gays and lesbians would have to be understood as a minority faction,” said Gary M. Segura, a Stanford University professor.

Attorney Charles Cooper, who is representing Proposition 8 sponsors, argued in his opening statement that gays enjoy substantial political power as evidenced by the array of political officials and labor and religious groups that opposed Proposition 8.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the prompt to read the full Associated Press account of today’s hearing.

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Today in the legal challenge of the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said he came to regret his opposition to gay marriage once he learned his daughter was a lesbian.

“I had been prejudiced,” the Republican said. “I was saying one group of people did not deserve the same respect, did not deserve the same symbolism of marriage, and I was saying their marriages were less important than those of heterosexuals.”

Plaintiffs in the case hope to prove Prop. 8 is unconstitutional in part because of unfair discrimination. Defendants have sought to portray the measure as upholding a tradition that contributes to the well-being of children, families and society.

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Children of same-gender parents are as well-adjusted and free from abuse as those with a mother and a father, a Cambridge University psychologist testified today in the trial challenging the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

They would be even better off if their parents were married, he said.

Developmental psychologist Michael Lamb said there was no evidence that children with gay parents were more likely to become gay themselves or become victims of sexual abuse or incest. The plaintiffs’ witness also said no evidence exists that gays or lesbians are more likely to sexually abuse children.

Under cross examination by David Thompson, Lamb acknowledged that there were significant differences between men and women, including that men are more likely to be alcoholics, engage in acts of violence and have learning disabilities.

Lamb agreed with Thompson that breastfeeding provides sources of immunity for children - and was unlikely to occur if both parents were men. Lamb also acknowledged that he considered himself politically liberal.

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An economist for the city of San Francisco testified today that the ban on gay marriages costs his municipality millions of dollars. The testimony was presented as part of the plaintiffs’s federal court challenge of the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

Edmund Egan said married people accumulate more wealth and have more to spend on property and consumer goods, which bolsters tax revenue. However, the defense challenged Egan’s methodology, and he acknowledged that he could not make a specific estimate of the amount lost and that his assertion was based on the spending habits of heterosexuals.

The Associated Press story on Egan’s testimony follows the links below. If you don’t already see, click on the “Read the rest of this entry” prompt.

Previous stories on the trial:
Child-sex threat used to promote Prop. 8
High court bans video from gay marriage trial
Gay marriage trial addresses procreation debate
Gay marriage trial rouses judge’s questions
Gay marriage trial begins

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An activist promoting the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage warned voters that if gay marriage advocates defeated the 2008 ballot measure, they would then try to legalize sex with children, according to evidence presented today in the federal court challenge of the ban.

If you don’t already see it below, click on the “Read the rest of this entry” prompt for the Associated Press story. And click here for today’s Supreme Court ruling banning video replay of the gay-marriage ban trial.

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