PROPOSITION 8 ON TV

Live feed of Prop. 8 trial to be broadcast at U.S. courts. meanwhile Prop. 8 backers ask U.S. Supreme Court to keep trial footage off YouTube.

Prop. 8 trial to include unprecedented testimony. Challengers of the same-sex marriage ban plan to call to the stand homosexual couples, experts on the history of sexual discrimination and marriage, and the architects of the ballot measure.
By Maura Dolan
January 11, 2010

Scholars, gay and lesbian partners and opponents of same-sex marriage are expected to testify about the nature of marriage and homosexuality during an unprecedented federal trial today to determine whether gays and lesbians may marry.

The case, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, is expected to become a landmark that eventually will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Both sides have hired leading legal advocates with lots of experience before the high court.

San Francisco's U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker, a Republican appointee known for independence, will decide whether Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage violates U.S. constitutional rights of equal protection and due process. Walker's pretrial rulings have tended to favor supporters of same-sex marriage.

Unlike other court cases about marriage rights, the trial before Walker will involve weeks of testimony on wide-ranging issues.

"Actually putting witnesses on the stand has never been done before in any lawsuit claiming a right to same-sex marriage," said Proposition 8 campaign attorney Andy Pugno. "So this is a very out-of-the-ordinary approach."

Walker decided to show the trial on a delayed basis on YouTube.com and to broadcast it live, when time zones permit, at federal courts in San Francisco, Pasadena, Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Brooklyn, N.Y. all eyes will be on youtube!
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