CA: Therese Stewart Fights for Marriage Equality at the Prop 8 Trial

The fact that Therese Stewart didn’t get much publicity during the landmark federal court trial challenging Proposition 8 isn’t really a surprise: Lesbians do tend to be invisible. But Therese (pronounced tuh-REZ) Stewart had a fairly visible role—right up there with the big guns of Ted Olson, David Boies, and Charles Cooper –the nationally known attorneys at the center of the publicity.

Stewart, known as Terry to family and friends, gave an opening statement for the City of San Francisco, right after Olson did for the plaintiff couples and Cooper did for the Yes on 8 defense. She provided direct examination of George Chauncey, an expert witness on the history of gay discrimination. And she’ll be giving a closing argument, too.

She was born in San Francisco in 1957 and grew up in Marin, thinking she might run for Congress someday. As a kid, she recalls, she put on a man’s suit and carried a briefcase that, in retrospect should have been a hint that she might grow up to be gay. “But I didn’t figure it out til I was 24,” said Stewart. Her spouse, Carole Scagnetti, an attorney and head of Marriage Equality USA, teases her about that.

Full Story from Keen News Service
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