A hearing in San Francisco next month on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, can be televised on C-SPAN, a federal appeals court has decided.

The cable station will carry the Dec. 6 hearing before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals live. Prop. 8 supporters are asking the court to overturn Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling in August that found the 2008 measure unconstitutional.

Same-sex marriage advocates and attorneys fighting the ban praised the appeals court’s decision Thursday.

“We are pleased that the public will be able to see and hear firsthand the arguments on these exceedingly important issues,” said Theodore Boutrous, an attorney fighting Prop. 8.

Chad Griffin, board president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which opposes the ban, agreed.

“For too long, the truth about marriage equality has been obscured by misleading political rhetoric,” Griffin said. “Now millions of Americans will be able to hear the truth about this issue firsthand.”

No federal trial in California has been shown on television or the Internet.

After the federal appeals court in San Francisco authorized a pilot project in December allowing cameras at selected civil, nonjury trials, Walker approved closed-circuit telecasts of the Prop. 8 trial to a few other federal courthouses. He also ordered videotaping for delayed uploads on YouTube.

The appeals court approved the closed-circuit telecast, but the U.S. Supreme Court vetoed it just as the trial was about to start. A 5-4 majority said Walker had failed to give the public enough time to comment on the proposal, and said cameras could have a chilling effect on the expert witnesses called to defend Prop. 8.

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