For supporters of same-sex marriage, Tuesday’s testimony from San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in the Proposition 8 trial would seem an important moment for their cause. A conservative Republican describes his transformation from gay marriage opponent to vocal critic of denying gays and lesbians the right to wed.

To foes of gay marriage, however, such testimony, in the words of Prop. 8 counsel Andrew Pugno, is “just irrelevant.”

These competing views of the value of the emotional side of testimony in the historic Proposition 8 trial are now among the issues Chief U.S. District Vaughn Walker must resolve in the legal challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Sanders’ testimony came as the plaintiffs are drawing closer to finalizing their case in their effort to overturn Prop. 8. Lawyers for same-sex couples seeking the right to marry are expected to wrap up their case either today or Friday, with testimony from Prop. 8 backer William Tam still to come.

The trial, now in its second week, has been heavy on experts and academics on the subject of same-sex marriage, but has been spiced all along with the accounts of individuals such as Sanders, who tearfully recounted how he renounced his own stance on gay marriage after learning his daughter is a lesbian.

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