Today marks the beginning of the closing arguments in the trial brought in San Francisco federal court against California's voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8.
A few developments from recent weeks in the Prop. 8-watching world if you haven't been following along:
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- U.S. District Court judge Vaughn Walker released a list of questions that he would like to see answered by lawyers on both sides of the suit. They're pretty intriguing. This doozey from Walker seems promising to the pro-gay-marriage side: “Why is legislating based on moral disapproval of homosexuality not tantamount to discrimination?… What evidence in the record shows that a belief based in morality cannot also be discriminatory?””
- The Mormon church was fined more than $5,000 for failing to report non-monetary contributions to the campaign to get Prop. 8. passed.
- Prop. 8's backers have put in a last-minute plea to the judge to not merely uphold the ban on same-sex marriage, but to effectively invalidate the 18,000 gay marriages that were created during the short period when same-sex marriage was legal in California.
- A new study of campaigns surrounding same-sex marriage ballot initiatives has found that voters, for all the signs and TV ads, don't change their minds on gay rights during campaign season.
Follow the action in the courtroom today at Courage Campaign's trial-tracking blog here.
