American Foundation for Equal Rights

San Jose Mercury: Experts again headline Proposition 8 trial

With the historic trial of a challenge to California’s gay marriage ban nearing the end of its first week, two more experts testified Thursday on the negative fallout of denying same-sex couples the right to wed, from costing a local government such as San Francisco’s millions of dollars a year to the mental health toll on gays and lesbians across the state.

The Proposition 8 trial resumes Friday morning with the likelihood of a day with a few more fireworks than Thursday’s expert-laden testimony.

Lawyers for same-sex couples challenging the gay marriage ban plan to call William Tam, a controversial proponent in the Proposition 8 movement, to the witness stand to grill him on the highly-charged 2008 campaign to pass the law, a key ingredient in the effort to prove the measure was infused with a discriminatory intent that violates the federal constitution.

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