A leading proponent of Proposition 8 found himself on trial Thursday inside the boundaries of the historic federal court trial here to decide the legality of California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

During an afternoon of scathing inquiry from prominent plaintiffs’ attorney David Boies, William Tam, a controversial figure in the Proposition 8 movement, was confronted repeatedly on views depicted as hostile to the rights of gays and lesbians. Tam acknowledged he likened same-sex marriage to pedophilia, polygamy and legalizing sex with children, and that California would fall into the “hands of Satan” if gay and lesbian couples could wed.

The San Francisco-based Proposition 8 proponent, called as part of the case to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban, explained that he primarily opposed same-sex marriage because it would encourage children to “marry John or Jane” of the same-sex when they “grow up.”

“I believe if the term marriage can be used beyond one man, one woman, then any two persons of any age, of any relationship, can use that same argument to ask for the term marriage,” Tam testified. “That would lead to incest. That would lead to polygamy. If this is a civil right, what would prevent other groups from asking for the same right.”

Read the rest of Howard Mintz’s San Jose Mercury article here.