Proposition 8 Ban On Gay Marriage

A federal trial on same-sex marriage focused Wednesday on the similarities and differences between homosexual and heterosexual couples, with a psychology professor citing "remarkable similarities." Letitia Peplau, an expert on couple relationships, testified that studies have found that the quality of heterosexual and homosexual relationships was on average "the same" as measured by closeness, love and stability. "On average, same-sex couples and heterosexual couples are indistinguishable," said Peplau, a UCLA professor of social psychology called by attorneys for two same-sex couples who are trying to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 voter initiative that reinstated a state ban on same-sex marriage.

Reporting from San Francisco -- A federal judge's refusal Tuesday to invalidate last year's ruling against Proposition 8 established for the first time that gay judges may decide gay rights cases without having to defend their impartiality. U.S. District Chief Judge James Ware ruled that retired Judge Vaughn R. Walker, 67, who is openly gay, was not required to remove himself from the same-sex marriage case because he has a long-term partner. "It is not reasonable to presume that a judge is incapable of making an impartial decision about the constitutionality of a law, solely because, as a citizen, the judge could be affected by the proceedings," Ware wrote.

In June, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a fateful decision. They called on California Mormons to donate their time and money to the campaign for Proposition 8, which would overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that permitted gay marriage. That push helped the initiative win narrow passage on election day. And it has made the Mormon Church, which for years has striven to be seen as part of the American mainstream, a political target.

Testimony in the historic federal same-sex marriage trial ended Wednesday, with ebullient attorneys for two gay couples expressing confidence and defenders of Proposition 8 conceding they may have to wait for victory from a higher court. Analysts who followed the trial anticipate that Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker is likely to rule for the challengers of Proposition 8. Walker, a Republican appointee with libertarian views, made it clear from the start that he wanted a full-blown examination of the social and political controversies surrounding gay marriage.

A widely anticipated federal trial over the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage opened Monday, with lawyers and witnesses debating the meaning of marriage and sexual orientation and gay and lesbian couples testifying about the humiliation of being denied matrimony. While supporters of same-sex marriage demonstrated in the fog outside the San Francisco courthouse and the U.S. Supreme Court wrangled with whether to allow video coverage of the trial, the case moved along briskly, with sometimes tearful testimony from the two same-sex couples who brought the lawsuit and an explanation of the roots of marriage by a Harvard historian.

A week ago, Father Geoffrey Farrow stood before his Roman Catholic parishioners in Fresno and delivered a sermon that placed him squarely at odds with his church over gay marriage. With Proposition 8 on the November ballot, and his own bishop urging Central Valley priests to support its definition of traditional marriage, Farrow told congregants he felt obligated to break "a numbing silence" about church prejudice against homosexuals.

The U.S. Supreme Court cast its first vote last week on the legal challenge to California's voter initiative barring same-sex marriage, and some experts said it was a bad omen for those who hope gays and lesbians will win a constitutional right to such unions. The 5-4 decision, with conservatives in the majority, intervened in the San Francisco district court trial on behalf of the defenders of Proposition 8. The high court rebuked U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker for seeking to give the public a chance to view the proceedings on the Internet.

A classroom dispute at Los Angeles City College in the emotional aftermath of Proposition 8 has given rise to a lawsuit testing the balance between 1st Amendment rights and school codes on offensive speech. Student Jonathan Lopez says his professor called him a "fascist bastard" and refused to let him finish his speech against same-sex marriage during a public speaking class last November, weeks after California voters approved the ban on such unions.

The California Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8 and existing same-sex marriages left in place all rights for California's gays and lesbians except access to the label "marriage," but it provided little protection from future ballot measures that could cost gays and other minorities more rights, lawyers and scholars said Tuesday.

For most of his eight years on the California Supreme Court, the low-key and affable Carlos R. Moreno largely blended in with the six other justices, building a reliably middle-of-the-road record. Then came Proposition 8, the initiative that reinstated a ban on same-sex-marriage. In May, Moreno cast the court's only vote to overturn it. Now, with the court's term concluding last month, the jurist chosen because of his moderate views is getting a second appraisal from legal analysts, who say his unexpected boldness may signal a growing independence.

The head of a think tank on marriage and family testified at the Proposition 8 federal trial Tuesday that same-sex marriage would weaken marriage and possibly lead to fewer heterosexual marriages, more divorces and "more public consideration of polygamy." But under cross-examination, David Blankenhorn, founder and president of the Institute for American Values, acknowledged that he wrote in a book in 2007 that the U.S. would be "more American on the day we permit same-sex marriage than we were on the day before."

A political scientist hired by defenders of Proposition 8 testified at a federal trial Monday that gays have accumulated substantial political power in recent years, though he admitted that stereotyping and discrimination persist. Claremont McKenna College professor Kenneth P. Miller, the first witness for defenders of Proposition 8, was called to the stand to rebut a plaintiff's expert who testified that gays were politically powerless. The question of power is part of the legal analysis over whether gays need stronger constitutional protection.

Same-sex marriage has been practiced in various cultures over time, including among some people in China, India, West Africa and North America. Roman emperors sometimes married men. These were some of the bits of testimony delivered during the last two weeks at the historic federal trial on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage. Challengers of the 2008 ban concluded testimony Friday after calling multiple witnesses to define homosexuality, marriage and the role religion has played in prejudice.

An official proponent of Proposition 8 testified at a federal trial Thursday that he was involved in disseminating claims that same-sex marriage could cause children to become gay and spark legalization of sex with children, incest and polygamy. William Tam, one of five official proponents for the 2008 ballot initiative, also testified about his personal views toward same-sex marriage. "It is very important that our children won't grow up to fantasize or think about, 'Should I marry Jane or John?

Challengers of California's ban on same-sex marriage tried to show Wednesday that religion has promoted discrimination against gays. Lawyers trying to overturn Proposition 8 presented testimony of a gay man who said his evangelical parents forced him into Christian therapy to change his sexuality, and the legal team later produced documents that showed close ties between leaders of the Catholic and Mormon churches and the Proposition 8 campaign....

After days of anti-Proposition 8 witnesses being described as liberal and activist, challengers of California's gay marriage ban elicited testimony Tuesday from San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican and the city's former police chief, who said his previous opposition to same-sex marriage stemmed from prejudice. At the federal trial over Proposition 8, Sanders told the court that when his elder daughter, Lisa, now 26, was in college, she told him she was a lesbian. He said he expressed his "overwhelming love" for her but also had concerns she would face discrimination.

Early on a late September morning, if all goes according to plan, 1 million Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, evangelical Christians, Sikhs and Hindus will open their front doors, march down their front walks and plant "Yes on Proposition 8" signs in their yards to show they support repealing same-sex marriage in California. It is a bold idea, one that may be difficult to pull off. But whether or not 1 million lawn signs are planted in unison, the plan underscores what some observers say is one of the most ambitious interfaith political organizing efforts ever attempted in the state.

Richard Raddon, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival who has been at the center of controversy ever since it was revealed almost two weeks ago that he had contributed $1,500 to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California, resigned from his post over the weekend. The nonprofit arts organization Film Independent sponsors both the Los Angeles Film Festival, held in May, and the popular Independent Spirit awards.