What happened yesterday in the Prop 8 Case

The Plaintiffs rest yesterday.

But before they did, here's what with down.

Earlier Monday, a team of lawyers led by prominent litigators Theodore Olson and David Boies rested the plaintiffs' case after spending more than nine days presenting evidence on the meaning of marriage, the nature of sexual orientation, and the role of religion in shaping attitudes about both.

The last volley in their attempt to prove Proposition 8 was a product of anti-gay bias and served no legitimate public interest was videotape of a simulcast in which supporters of the ban said gay marriage would lead to polygamy and bestiality.

The footage was shown as an example of the work of San Diego pastor Jim Garlow, who helped organize evangelical Christian support for the ballot measure.

In one video rally led by Garlow, an unidentified pastor warned "the polygamists are waiting in the wings, because if a man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman, the polygamists are going to use that exact same argument, and they probably are going to win."

It appeared the lawyers were introducing the material to demonstrate the campaign for the ban appealed to religious-based, anti-gay bias to scare voters into supporting the measure.

Proposition 8 sponsors objected to the video, saying the content of the simulcast was not controlled by campaign managers or leaders.

However, Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker allowed the material to be put into the record because the coalition of religious and conservative groups behind Proposition 8 paid for Garlow's work.

The plaintiffs also introduced clips from promotional videos produced by other groups for distribution to churches during the Proposition 8 campaign. In one, produced by the American Family Council in Mississippi, the chairman of the California campaign, Ron Prentice, spoke against same-sex couples raising children.

"Children need and deserve the chance to have both mother love and father love" because men and women "don't bring to a marriage and a family the same natural set of skills and talents," Prentice said.

These preachers are jokes.

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Prop 8 case news: Plantiffs Plans to Rest their case Today

Boies and Olson plans to rest their case today.

Plaintiffs will likely rest their case Monday in the federal trial over California's Proposition 8, setting the stage for backers of the ban on same-sex marriage to open their line of defense.

"We're pleased with the way it has gone," said David Boies, an attorney for the gay couples who want to wed.

He said he set out to prove that marriage was an important right, that gays were harmed by being denied that right and that marriage wouldn't be hurt by extending it to same-sex couples. "We've proven all three of those," he said.

Judge Vaughn Walker will decide whether the 2008 voter initiative that limited marriage to a man and a woman codified discrimination or protected a legitimate state interest. This is the first federal challenge to state gay-marriage bans.

Defense lawyer Andrew Pugno said his side would present evidence from experts that traditional definitions of marriage between heterosexual couples have special benefit for children and for society.

The opponents had a weak case from the gate, from citing bogus internet sites to quoting crazy ass myths that died out with claymation. I can't wait to hear their closing arguments.

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