The Proposition 8 trial has resumed this morning with the continued testimony of Nancy Cott, a Harvard University historian and expert for the plaintiffs. Her task to start the second day of trial is to knock down one of the central arguments of gay marriage foes: that the state has a compelling interest in restricting marriage to heterosexual couples because of the procreative purpose of marriage.

Asked by plaintiffs attorney Theodore Boutrous whether procreation is a central purpose of marriage, Cott scoffed, noting that President George Washington, “the father of our country,” was sterile by the time of a later marriage. “Procreative ability has never been a qualification for marriage,” she testified.

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