By Lisa Keen on January 21, 2010
William Tam is what lawyers call an “adverse” witness. The head of a small coalition of Asian Americans in the San Francisco area who are opposed to same-sex marriage, Tam made a name for himself by propagating some of the most virulent public comments and literature in support of Proposition 8.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 21, 2010
Defenders of Prop 8 are continuing to draw out the trial with prolonged cross-examinations of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses. One attorney acknowledged in court that the legal team’s case is “primarily” based on cross-examination and that defense plans to bring only two witnesses.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 20, 2010
President Obama’s name keeps coming up a lot during the trial challenging the constitutionality of California’s same-sex marriage ban.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 20, 2010
The courtroom let out a collective gasp at the testimony: A 26-year-old gay man from Colorado recounted what his mother said to him—at the age of 13—when she found out he was gay.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 20, 2010
Testimony in the Proposition 8 trial Tuesday began with emotional testimony by San Diego’s Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders and ended with a clear hit against the claim that same-sex marriages will somehow do harm to straight marriages.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 19, 2010
Tuesday morning’s testimony in the Proposition 8 trial began with riveting and emotional testimony by San Diego’s Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders, but the legal team scored a big victory during more testimony concerning economics.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 17, 2010
It turns out that it shouldn’t have been a big surprise last year when conservative icon Ted Olson announced he would help lead the charge against Proposition 8, the initiative which bans legal recognition for same-sex relationships in California. Olson’s law firm is no novice at defending the rights of gays to get married.
Posted in A closer look, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News, State Courts
By Chuck Colbert on January 16, 2010
Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts took an ugly turn in the last few days, with a national anti-gay organization now playing the anti-gay marriage card in an apparent move to turn out social conservatives to vote for Republican Scott Brown.
Posted in Campaigns, Issues, Marriage/Relationships, National Politics, News, Politics
By Lisa Keen on January 15, 2010
It’s not often one hears these words in a federal courtroom: “Dyke. You fucking dyke. You’re going to die and go to hell.”
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 15, 2010
There was some extra drama in and outside the courtroom this morning when one of the defense’s attorneys, David Thompson, told Judge Vaughn Walker that defense had withdrawn many of its witnesses because of their fears about being videotaped and subjected to harassment.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 14, 2010
The discussion at the Proposition 8 trial Thursday swung from economics to mental health. Each inquiry had its legal purpose.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 14, 2010
It was mostly a numbers game in the courtroom this morning during Day 4 of the federal trial challenging Proposition 8.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 14, 2010
Attorneys defending Proposition 8 in a federal district court tipped their hand Wednesday on how they will try to show that allowing same-sex couples to marry might harm the institution of marriage.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 13, 2010
Attorneys for Proposition 8 tried to make a case this morning for the notion that people could support the ban on same-sex marriage without feeling hostility toward gay people. Their prime exhibit: President Obama.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 12, 2010
Attorneys challenging the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage painted the “Yes on 8” campaign today as a modern day copycat of Anita Bryant’s late 1970s campaign to “Save the Children.”
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 12, 2010
Take-home message from expert Nancy Cott’s testimony today: The push by gay and lesbian couples to obtain equal access to marriage has done much to improve the status of marriage in the U.S, not harm it.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on January 12, 2010
The trial to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court got underway Monday in San Francisco but the opening acts were upstaged in Washington, D.C.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships
By Lisa Keen on January 10, 2010
The trial to challenge Proposition 8 opens at 9 a.m. Pacific time this morning, and it promises to be an event of historic proportions for the LGBT community on many levels—legally, politically, and dramatically.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Dana Rudolph on January 9, 2010
A look at how Proposition 8 defenders seek to justify the same-sex marriage ban
What do gay political icon Harvey Milk, anti-gay marriage activist Maggie Gallagher, controversial military contractor Blackwater, and the Walibiri aborigines of Central Australia have in common?
Posted in A closer look, Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Chuck Colbert on January 8, 2010
Even before the votes were tallied Thursday in the New Jersey Senate on a marriage equality bill, advocates of the bill knew they would fall short.
The marriage equality bill needed 21 votes to pass; it garnered only 14.
Posted in Issues, Marriage/Relationships, News, Politics, State Politics
Ginsburg on Roe: Is it a signal she’d curb a decision on marriage?
Leahy submits language to help bi-national same-sex couples
Delaware votes for marriage equality; becomes 11th state to make it the law
Rhode Island marriage law signed; Two more states could vote next week
Rhode Island marriage bill clears final hurdle with all Republicans