CA: Prop 8 Trial Begins Tomorrow

As of Monday morning, the epicenter of the national debate over gay marriage returns to the same few blocks in San Francisco where it catapulted into a major public issue six years ago. This time, the same-sex marriage wars will unfold in the city's federal building, just a short walk from where San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom once riled the country by handing out marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples at City Hall. Now, the legal fight over gay marriage shifts into unprecedented territory with the first trial ever held over the constitutionality of a state's ban on the right of same-sex couples to wed. Over the next few weeks, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will consider a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative that restored California's ban on same-sex marriages. To most legal experts, the trial may lay the groundwork for eventually propelling the gay marriage issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. And those experts say the stakes in the Proposition 8 showdown are immense for the entire gay rights movement if Perry v. Schwarzenegger, as the California case is called, is etched in Supreme Court lore. "It's a dangerous ballgame because if it does go to the Supreme Court, a lot is riding on that," said Sara Benson, a law professor at the University of Illinois. Full Story from the Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_14159406

Click here for gay marriage resources in California.

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