Day One of the Trial of the Century

Yesterday, the Prop 8 trial began. Here's a quick hit from LGBT POV about what happened.

Judge Walker interrupted Ted Olson’s opening statements several times, showing he’s going to be an engaged judge. San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart, who is part of the case, told me she thinks he may even ask questions of the witnesses.

Olson laid out their case very well, I thought – though Walker did ask some hard pertinent questions – more on this tonight.

Charles Cooper for the defense seemed all over the place – arguing what we’ve heard often before – that marriage is historically and culturally been defined as between a man and a woman for the purposes of procreation and a stable society. Judge Walker asked how same sex marriages effected heterosexual marriages – and he says it does because it “de-institutionalizes” the institution. Again, more on this later. I don’t think Cooper did well – and it turns out that three more of their witnesses dropped out this morning, per Stewart.

This morning’s testimony was basically by the gay male plaintiffs – Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. Jeff went first and was emotional at several points talking about the difficulty coming out and being categorized as a second class citizen. No questions from Cooper.

Paul is on the stand now. He, too, has been emotional at times. David Boies is leading this part of the examination. There have been several technical objections – including one that Walker agreed to – re not showing the National Organization for Marriage ad “The Gathering Storm” because the link to Protect Marriage is “tenuous.” Ted Olson told me that “it’s not over,” regarding admitting the NOM ad as evidence.

CNN has this about the opponents:

However, Charles Cooper, an attorney representing Protect Marriage, the group that came up with Proposition 8, told the judge in his opening statement the purpose of marriage is to promote procreation between men and women.

Same-sex marriage "will likely lead to very real social harm; it's too novel and experimental," he argued.

Californians "are entitled to make this critical decision for themselves," he said, pointing to voter support of the proposition.

Except for the issue of marriage, gays and lesbians have been successful in attaining policy goals, Cooper said, adding that California has some of the most comprehensive protections in the nation.

Sorry this is choppy, but I will try to get more info.