Indiana gay marriage ban moves forward
A constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Indiana took a step forward after a Republican-controlled Senate committee approved the measure 6-4 Wednesday.
While the measure stands a chance of progressing through Indiana’s full state Senate, which is currently controlled by the GOP, it is unlikely to make it through the Democrat-controlled …
Prop 8 trial witness: Being gay not a choice
(San Francisco) A social psychologist testifying in a trial challenging California’s gay marriage ban says leading mental health associations stopped thinking of homosexuality as a mental illness decades ago.
Lawyers for two same-sex couples suing to overturn the voter-enacted ban called University of California, Davis researcher Gregory Herek as an expert …
Trial: Prop. 8 supporters show some churches opposed ban
(San Francisco) Lawyers defending California’s gay marriage ban produced campaign fliers and other documents Thursday showing some churches in the state opposed the 2008 ballot measure that established the ban.
Stanford University professor Gary M. Segura spent his second day on the witness stand under cross-examination by David Thompson, a lawyer …
Gay marriage ban backer to be hostile witness
(San Francisco) A proponent of California’s same-sex marriage ban who warned that gay rights activists would try to legalize sex with children if Proposition 8 did not pass is expected to be called as a hostile witness Thursday for two same-sex couples suing to overturn the measure.
Lawyers for the couples …
Prop 8 trial: S Diego mayor says gay marriage views ‘evolved’
(San Francisco) The mayor of San Diego testified Tuesday that his views on same-sex marriage evolved after he learned one of his daughters was a lesbian.
Mayor Jerry Sanders took the witness stand on behalf of two same-sex couples suing to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban.
“I had been …
Today’s trial: Economist says gay marriage ban costs
(San Francisco)A state ban on gay marriage is costing the city of San Francisco millions of dollars a year in lost revenue and increased services, an economist testified Thursday in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the prohibition.
Chief city economist Edmund Egan said married people accumulate more wealth and have more …
Prop 8 trial: Historian says marriage about more than procreation
(San Francisco) A Harvard professor testifying in a case challenging California’s gay marriage ban said Tuesday that procreation is historically not the only function of marriage.
In her second day of testimony, Nancy Cott, a U.S. history professor and the author of a book on marriage as a public institution, disputed …
Protest outside federal gay marriage trial in SF
(San Francisco) About 100 people are demonstrating outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco as the trial for California’s gay marriage ban begins.
Most of the demonstrators are gay marriage supporters, who took turns Monday addressing the crowd with a microphone. They support the overturning of Proposition 8, a voter-approved law …
Supreme Court asked to bar taping of gay marriage trial
(Washington) Gay marriage opponents are asking the Supreme Court to block the broadcast of the upcoming trial on California’s same-sex marriage ban.
At issue in the federal trial beginning Monday in San Francisco is whether the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban approved by California voters in November 2008 is legal.
The presiding …
Judge refuses to dismiss gay marriage ban lawsuit
(San Francisco) A federal judge in San Francisco has refused to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to overturn California’s same-sex marriage ban.
U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker also signaled Wednesday that the measure’s sponsors will need to show that allowing gay couples to wed threatens traditional male-female unions.
Walker said significant questions …
