American Foundation for Equal Rights

SF Chronicle: Prop. 8 witness criticized anti-gay measures

A political scientist testifying in support of California’s ban on same-sex marriage acknowledged today that he has frequently criticized ballot measures that take rights away from vulnerable minorities, including a forerunner of Proposition 8.

In a lengthy cross-examination in San Francisco federal court, a lawyer for gay and lesbian couples who have sued to overturn Prop. 8 confronted Kenneth Miller with his own studies of the initiative process and what he concluded were its abuses.

In a 1999 article, for example, examining 40 years of initiatives in California, Oregon and Colorado, Miller and a co-author wrote that ballot measures affecting racial minorities or gays “can easily tap into a strain of anti-minority sentiment.” He later wrote that courts need to be especially vigilant in reviewing initiatives.

Read the rest of Bob Egelko’s San Francisco Chronicle article here.