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The Perry Trial: Where It's Headed - Trial on Prop 8
Published on 20 January 2010 in Marriage - Homosexual, Partners ...Source: Protect Marriage .com
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  The Perry Trial: Where It's Headed As we enter into the second week of the epic trial to preserve traditional marriage in the federal court case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, we can see how the challenge is shaping up. Our opponents are attempting to portray Proposition 8 as nothing but a continuation of past perceived discrimination against gays and lesbians. Their witnesses have testified about how they felt when Prop 8 passed, how they felt as couples, receiving raised eyebrows when seeking to check into a hotel with a king-sized bed, and how they felt receiving disapproving looks when walking down the street together. They’ve even put on witnesses claiming that our advertisements and messaging is reminiscent of anti-homosexual comments of Anita Bryant in a mid-1970s Florida campaign. What these witnesses have failed to say, however, is how invalidating Proposition 8 would provide a remedy for these perceived social slights. Their “experts” have testified that same-sex relationships are the same as traditional heterosexual relationships, and that children with homosexual parents do just as well as children raised by a married mother and father. Legalizing same-sex marriage will have no impact, it is claimed, on traditional marriage. Our attorneys have achieved some critical concessions from the plaintiff witnesses, particularly their so-called experts. For example, one academic had to admit that there are critical differences between how homosexual men view the importance of monogamy as compared to married heterosexual couples. For gay men, their witness acknowledged, sexual exclusiveness is the exception rather than the rule. Only slightly more than one-third of homosexual men believe that monogamy is an important factor in their relationships, and among that group nearly 75% have sexual encounters with multiple partners while in “committed” relationships. Despite this incredible admission, the plaintiff witnesses still maintain that redefining marriage to include same-sex couples will have no impact on the institution of marriage. Apparently we are just supposed to accept that marriage no longer means a commitment of sexual fidelity to a partner, and that old-fashioned social mores can be jettisoned without any impact on our collective understanding about the meaning of marriage. Whether the terrific efforts of our distinguished legal counsel to force our opponents into critical admissions will make any difference in this San Francisco courtroom remains to be seen. San Francisco is, after all, the most pro-gay marriage venue in the nation. But no matter what Judge Vaughn Walker may decide, we are extremely confident that the record we are building in this trial court will be extremely persuasive with the United States Supreme Court, where most people believe the Perry case is ultimately headed. I do have to admit to a great deal of frustration in reading the mainstream media’s coverage of the trial. Their biases against traditional marriage are obvious, and it is as if they have already scripted the testimony. No concessions from the plaintiff experts will change their perception of the desired outcome. The media has shown bias toward same-sex marriage from the beginning, continuing the idle messages of bigotry, discrimination, and false messaging. Yet neither the media nor the plaintiff attorneys can point me to a single provision in the U.S. Constitution that establishes homosexual marriage as a matter of constitutional right, or a single federal case that has established a federal right to same-sex marriage. There is none. This week we will hear more from various plaintiff witnesses. They will put one of the official Prop 8 sponsors, Bill Tam, on the stand and attempt to portray some of his own personal comments (written in Chinese) as being representative of the Prop 8 campaign. Of course, our attorneys will make clear that Mr. Tam played no role whatsoever in the decision making of the campaign. Whether the plaintiffs will call to the stand the members of the campaign Executive Committee or our campaign consultants remains to be seen. Our attorneys are looking forward to calling our defense witnesses as soon as the plaintiffs wrap up their case. Please keep us all in your prayers. And to get an accurate reading of what is happening in court, please be sure to check out Andy Pugno’s daily blog postings at www.protectmarriage.com/blog. Finally, I have written to you many times about the extraordinary financial burden we bear in funding this extraordinary defense of traditional marriage. Here is a link to an informative post by Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) that describes the daily work of our attorneys. In addition to the Cooper & Kirk firm, ADF and Andy Pugno, we have many other attorneys working remotely, reviewing tens of thousands of documents, drafting motions and researching various matters that will come before the court. The defense of Proposition 8 is costing us millions of dollars. Please help us by making a generous contribution today. We simply cannot continue to be effective without your financial support. May God bless you and your family. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Ron Prentice, Executive Director To receive continued up-to-date coverage on the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial and breaking news on the legal threat to marriage in California be sure to click here to follow THE OFFICIAL PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM BLOG. 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