CA: Prop 8 Trial, Day 3 Summary

MORNING SUMMRY: A Salt Lake City news station reports on the possibility that documents from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) will be introduced in Perry v. Schwarzenegger: Will LDS church documents surface at California Gay Marriage trial? And on the “gays are a threat to marriage” front, Nate Silver at 538 Dot Com has evidence that shows divorce rates are higher in states with gay marriage bans. This morning’s proceedings of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, we had the cross-examination of plaintiff’s expert witness, Yale historian George Chauncey, by David Thompson, attorney for the defendants (supporters of Prop. 8). The main thing Thompson seemed to be looking for was evidence that discrimination against gays and lesbians has dramatically decreased in recent years, as if this somehow makes continued discrimination all right. Full Morning Story from Kel's Hot Flash: http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/hotflash/blogs/post?oid=1353407 AFTERNOON: First, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled (5-4, with the conservatives in the majority) that cameras should not be allowed in the trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. That’s a real blow for transparency and for civic education. Nothing would disabuse people of the notion of an “activist” judiciary so quickly as watching a few trials. A new witness for the plaintiffs this afternoon: Letitia Anne Peplau, professor of social psychology at UCLA. She was questioned by plaintiff’s attorney Christopher Dusseault. Peplau is an expert on four relevant issues: The benefits of marriage; similarities between gay and straight marriages; benefits to gays of marriage; and lack of harm to straight marriage posed by gay marriage. Peplau testified that three times as many gay people got married when it became legal in Massachusetts as had gotten civil unions or domestic partnerships. This indicates that marriage is perceived as a preferred status. Full Story from Kel's Hot Flash: http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/hotflash/blogs/post?oid=1353526

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