Best Soundbites from the Prop.8 Trial Part 2
I got caught up in the Racebending.com project and this kind of fell on the wayside, but earlier this year I was cribbing through the Prop 8 legalize gay marriage trial transcripts, as a video was banned, to find the best soundbites. Part 1 is here. Here's Part 2.
- The Defense explains why gay marriage should be illegal--think of the children!
Thompson: Men can’t breast feed. Breastfeeding clearly has benefits for children.
Wouldn't lesbian moms mean two sets of boobs to feed from?
On why kids should not have two daddies.
Thompson: More men are like Homer Simpson than not?
Lamb: I cannot say that. Some are worse.
We'll cite an outdated book you wrote from 40 years ago!
The Defense cross-examines Professor Michael Lamb, an expert on gay parenting from Cambridge
Thompson: In 1976, you wrote about the role of the father in childhood development.
Professor Lamb: The citations are from 1961, two from 1950s, one from 1965. We’ve had a lot of research since that was written. As you’ve pointed out, there have been subsequent editions of this book, that have updated these citations.
Brought to you in part by viewers like you
The Defense tries to argue that Professor Lamb is a biased witness
Thompson: You’ve been member of ACLU. And NOW? And NAACP? Amnesty International? The Nature Conservancy? You have even given money to PBS, so we can agree you are a committed liberal, right?
Later, on the redirect
McGill: Did the Corporation on Public Broadcasting (PBS) affect your opinion in this case?
Lamb: No, it did not.
Protect Marriage?
Attorney Dennis Herrera interviews Republican San Diego Mayor/ former Police Chief Jerry Sanders about his daughter Lisa's same-sex marriage.
Herrera:Has Lisa’s marriage harmed your own marriage?
Sanders: No. They are going to be an excellent example of persevering and going lengths for each other.
Herrera:Did you see any Prop 8 signs about protecting the children?
Sanders:Yes, I saw signs with Prop 8 paper dolls. I couldn’t imagine why anybody would think that children would be harmed by marriage. I couldn’t imagine why anybody would need to be protected from my daughter Lisa. Somehow, society needs to be protected from her?
Defining Animus
Cross examination by Brian Robb
Robb: You supported civil unions.
Sanders: Yes, I did. I thought it was a reasonable alternative. I didn’t think I felt hatred. In retrospect, it was clouded with prejudice. I thought civil unions were a fair alternative.
Robb: Do you believe that some people can support civil unions over same-sex marriage without prejudice and animus?
Sanders: Well, I think that people can lack hatred, but it is probably grounded in prejudice. I’m saying that the opinion is probably grounded in prejudice.
Robb: A big part of your base favored civil unions over same-sex marriage.
Sanders: Yes
Robb: Sometimes based on religion?
Sanders: Yes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t based upon prejudice. They don’t mean hatred.
Herrera then on the redirect
Herrera: Have you made decisions out of political fear from the LGBT community?
Sanders: No. I think it goes more the other way, it's easier to favor the Republicans.
Herrera: Did the GOP express anger at the change of position? (When Sanders came out in support of gay marriage.)
Sanders:Yes, they were very upset with it. I had to go to a lot of meetings
"Californians are well within their right to choose not to be the guinea pigs for this social experiment." -protect marriage blogs (PEEG? PEEG?)
Straight Parenting at it's Finest?
Witness Ryan Kendall talks about what it was like to come out to his conservative Christian parents.
Kendall: Before [they learned he was gay], my parents put notes in my lunch, made my lunch. After, they abused me emotionally. My mother told me she hated me, that I was disgusting, repulsive. She wished she’d had an abortion rather than having a gay son. She said she wished I’d had Down’s syndrome or been born retarded.
Kendall: When I was sixteen, I surrendered myself to the Department of Human Services in Colorado Springs. I went in and told the caseworker about family and reversal therapy, that if I went back home I’d kill myself. They started separation proceedings.
Easy Target?
Witness Professor Gary Segura from Stanford testifies on the political vulnerability of the lesbian and gay community, as the defense argues that the LGBTQ community is politically powerful and thus Prop. 8 is not discrimination.
Segura: No group in American society--including undocumented aliens, who are a distant second--have been targeted by more ballot measures than gays and lesbians.
Segura: I survey the world and see a FBI report that says that gays and lesbians are 70% of the victims of hate-inspired murder. Are they still powerful? Possibly. 29 states do not protect gays and lesbians. Powerful? Possibly. Could I look at 150 ballot measures and see that gays lose 70% of time. Powerful? Presumably. Could I see constitutional prohibitions for gays and conclude they [LGBTQ] are powerful? Yes. I could not draw the conclusion that gays and lesbians are powerful by looking at all of these factors. That would be the political science equivalent of malpractice.