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Contact: Yusef Robb

yusefrobb@equalrightsfoundation.org / 323-384-1789 cell

UPDATED PROP 8 TRIAL PLAINTIFFS DECISION EVENT INFO

Official Events in San Francisco, West Hollywood (Los Angeles) After Decision is Released

UPDATE: Livestream of the official plaintiffs press conference will be at www.equalrightsfoundation.org. Press conference to start within minutes of decision being issued.

UPDATE: Press entrance at 400 Sansome Street for San Francisco plaintiff’s press conference; 40 foot throw.

UPDATE: SAT truck parking on Robertson between Santa Monica and Melrose for West Hollywood (Los Angeles) plaintiff’s public event; 40 foot throw.

UPDATE: The court has announced that the Perry decision will be issued between 1pm and 3pm PT on Wednesday, Aug. 4

The court has announced that the decision in the landmark Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial will be announced Wednesday, August 4 between 1 pm and 3 pm PT. The American Foundation for Equal Rights – the organization that launched the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case and brought together attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies to argue it – will hold a news conference in San Francisco immediately after a decision is issued and will hold a public event later in the day in West Hollywood (Los Angeles). Both events will include the plaintiffs, lead attorneys Ted Olson & David Boies and Foundation leadership.

WHAT:

Official Plaintiffs Post-Decision Events/Immediate Reaction

WHO:

*Perry v. Schwarzenegger/Prop. 8 Trial Plaintiffs Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami, Jeff Zarrillo

*Lead attorneys Theodore Olson and David Boies

*American Foundation for Equal Rights Board President Chad Griffin

WHEN:

*San Francisco News Conference: Within minutes of the decision

*West Hollywood (Los Angeles) Public Event: 6pm Pacific (Tentative Time)

WHERE:

*San Francisco News Conference:

The Bentley Reserve

301 Battery Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

PRESS ENTRANCE AT 400 SANSOME

*West Hollywood (Los Angeles) Public Event:

West Hollywood Park

647 N. San Vicente

West Hollywood, CA 90069

The American Foundation for Equal Rights brought together Olson and David Boies, who notably faced-off in Bush v. Gore, to demonstrate that Prop. 8 violates Americans’ U.S. constitutional rights by creating separate classes of people with different laws for each, in conflict with the nation’s founding principles, including equal protection under the law. Prop. 8 unconstitutionally stripped away the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.

Closing arguments in the case were delivered on June 16. See: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/press-releases/prop-8-unconstitutional-closing-arguments-state/.

For full trial transcripts including a transcript of the powerful closing arguments and devastating rebuttal from Ted Olson (it is an official/full transcript that includes the defendants’ arguments as well), see: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/our-work/hearing-transcripts/.

The plaintiffs in the case want to be married but cannot because of Prop. 8.

Kris and Sandy have been together for more than ten years and their family includes four boys. Both are in public service — Kris leads a childhood health and education agency and Sandy works for a county health department. Their home life centers around their kids, with PTA meetings, soccer and music lessons taking up much of their free time.

Paul and Jeff have been together for nine years. Jeff is a general manager for a movie theater company and Paul is a business owner. They own a home together and are proud uncles. The powerful testimony of the plaintiffs, along with the presentation of 17 witnesses and revealing cross-examination of the defendant-intervenors’ witnesses, clearly exposed the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8. A summary of the trial is available at: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/press-releases/perry-v-schwarzenegger-trial-summary/.

See key articles at http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/news.

John Podesta, head of the progressive Center for American Progress, and Robert Levy, head of the libertarian Cato Institute, are the co-chairs of the American Foundation for Equal Rights Advisory Board, which also includes NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, UFW Founder Dolores Huerta and FOX News Commentator Margaret Hoover. See the Podesta-Levy Washington Post Op-Ed here: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/news/afer-co-chairs-levypodesta/.

This unprecedented federal court challenge was filed in May 2009, with both sides presenting their cases in court from January 11 to January 27. Since then, Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, has been analyzing the evidence, testimony, and briefs in advance of a decision.

Leading civil rights organizations, legal scholars, doctors, scientists, and religious organizations have filed amicus briefs in support of the plaintiffs, including: the California NAACP, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF), Asian Law Caucus, National Black Justice Coalition, South Asian Bar Association of Northern California, ACLU, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Center for Lesbian Rights, retired California Court of Appeal Justice Donald King, family law professors from across the state, American Anthropological Association, American Psychoanalytic Association, National Association of Social Workers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics California Chapter.

See: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/press-releases/amicus-briefs-filed-in-support-of-olsonboies-prop-8-challenge/.

“More than 30 years ago, the United States Supreme Court recognized that marriage is one of the basic rights of man,” the suit against Prop. 8 states, referring to the Court’s decision in Loving v.Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage.

For more information, please visit www.equalrightsfoundation.org.

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