DAY FIVE OF PROP. 8 TRIAL/AVAIL INFO

Trial on Unconstitutionality of Prop. 8 Begins Day Five in U.S. District Court;
For latest information, visit equalrightsfoundation.org

The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 will continue Friday, January 15 at 8:30 am.

Today, the court  once again heard from eminent experts who testified to the extensive harm wrought by Proposition 8, and that while Proposition 8 is extremely damaging, equal marriage would not cause harm, and in fact would create benefits for individuals, government and society.

Dr. Edmund Egan, Chief Economist for the City and County of San Francisco, testified that Proposition 8 is a drain on government budgets, and that legalizing same-sex marriage would generate significant revenues and increase personal wealth, and would also reduce the burden on government services from people without health insurance and other benefits.

“It’s clear to me that Proposition 8 has a negative material impact,” Egan said.

Egan was followed by Dr. Ilan H. Meyer, Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, who testified about the stigma and prejudice gay and lesbians individuals face in society, saying that they are meant to feel they are “not equal, not respected by my state, my country, my fellow citizens.”

Meyer said that domestic partnership is not an adequate substitute for marriage, and said he doubted that society places any value on domestic partnership.

“I don’t know if it has any social meaning,” Meyer said. “I think it is clear that young children do not aspire to become domestic partners. But they may desire to become married.”

Tomorrow will continue with the testimony of Michael Lamb, Ph.D, a Professor and Head of the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at Cambridge University, who will testify about gay and lesbian parenting and its impact on the adjustment of children and adolescents, and the benefits to children and adolescents if their same-sex parents were allowed to marry; Helen Zia, a lesbian author who will testify about her sexual orientation, her experiences with discrimination, and the effects of being denied the right to marry her longtime partner; and M.V. Lee Badgett, Ph.D., a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts,  Amherst, to testify about the private harms caused by Prop. 8 and the impact of same-sex marriage on the marriages of different-sex couples.

Trial opened Monday with powerful testimony from Jeff Zarrillo, Paul Katami, Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, who comprise two couples that want to get married but cannot because of Proposition 8. They were followed by experts Dr. Nancy Cott, Dr. Chauncey, Dr. Peplau, Dr. Egan and Dr. Meyer whose eminent credentials, extensive research and strong testimony combined to present compelling evidence pointing to the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8.

Yesterday, evidence was introduced that exposed the discriminatory motivations of Proposition 8, as demonstrated by campaign communications and statements by William Tam, an Official Proponent of the initiative.

Video of Tam’s deposition, which was taken on Dec. 1, 2009, was shown in court yesterday, which included statements such as this one, from a pro-Prop. 8 email he wrote: “They lose no time in pushing the gay agenda — after legalizing same-sex marriage, they want to legalize prostitution. What will be next? On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children.” Please see http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/press-releases/discriminatory-motivations-of-prop-8-exposed-in-court-today/ for additional quotes and details.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights launched the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case and brought together Theodore Olson and David Boies to lead the litigation.

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