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Posted: 1/14/10

The trial started this week in California to decide the constitutionality of their state amendment banning same sex marriages.  You can read a daily blog by ADF on the issue here http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/3618.

Update: 1/28/09 The plaintiffs and defendants have both rested their case and now Judge Vaughn Walker will review the case.  Afterwards there will be closing arguments by the two.  The judge may decide the case in as little as 1 month or as long as a year or longer.  Afterwards the case can, and almost certainly will be, appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court ref1.  An interesting audio commentary of the trial can be found here.  

Possible appeals process.

This case appears to be based on the idea that prop 8 violates section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  To that end the plaintiffs, Boies and Olsen, have sought out to prove that gays are a minority.  According to West's encyclopedia of American Law a minority is "identifiable and specially disadvantaged groups such as those based on race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin." ref2

A common argument is that  This does not make sense since every law that exists is a legislation of morality.

Marriage is necessary for children in that both a mother and a father are needed and necessary for growth.  Kids need to learn about the differences and appropriate interactions between a male and female through their parents as well as the differences in parenting styles from the different sexes, which complement each other.

One of the dangerous things about this trial is that Christianity is being put on trial with the plaintiff's position that prop 8 is nothing but evidence of religious objections rooted in religious faith.  If that is the case, which it is not, so what?  Are we not allowed to have laws based on the belief that something is morally wrong?  Morality almost always comes directly from religious convictions.  Are Christian's not allowed to vote on an issue if religious convictions are an issue ref3?

A very similar case in Nebraska was handled a few years ago and it went closer to the U.S. Supreme Court than this one, but no one seems to remember that one ref4.  The defendants in the Prop 8 trial even referenced it in a motion to dismiss the case.

I am very curious to hear the closing arguments for this trial.  Here are some closing comments from both sides in a 27:45 min video ref5, alt ref5. Boies on the offense starts and the Prop.8 defense starts at 15:35.  It clearly presents the arguments and positions of both sides.

Addendum: A new hate crimes law makes statements against homosexuality a form of hate crime.  ref6 more later.

Note: Article to read later.

Last Updated: 6/22/14

TAGS: marriage, nebraska, prop.8, video