American Foundation for Equal Rights

Trial Testimony

Resources > Trial Testimony

The January 2010 Federal District Court trial of California’s Proposition 8 was America’s truth commission on marriage equality.  For the first time, a federal court heard testimony on marriage for gay and lesbian couples.  It’s easy to appeal to people’s fears and prejudices in campaign literature and 30-second television ads.  But when you come into court and swear under oath, the lies melt away and the truth comes out.

Day 1 Day 1 Day 3
Day 3 Day 3 Day 6
Day 3 Day 8 Day 9
Day 10 Day 11 Day 12

Watercolors by Vicki Ellen Beheringer

Witnesses

Day 1, January 11

Day 2,  January 12

Day 3, January 13

Day 4, January 14

  • Egan Edmund, chief economist for the City and County of San Francisco
  • Ilan Meyer, professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences  at Columbia University

Day 5, January 15

  •  Helen Zia, award-winning writer
  • Michael Lamb, professor and head of the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, England

Day 6 , January 19

Day 7, January 20

Day 8, January 21

Day 9, January 22

  • Gregory M. Herek, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis

Day 10, January 25

  • Kenneth Miller, professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College

Day 11, January 26

Day 12, January 27