The American Foundation of Equal Rights has sent out a preview of today’s today’s witnesses as Perry v. Schwarzenegger resumes.

DAY SIX OF PROP. 8 TRIAL/AVAIL INFO

Trial on Unconstitutionality of Prop. 8 Begins Day Six in U.S. District Court

The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 will continue Tuesday, January 19 at 8:30 am. The legal team, led by Theodore Olson and David Boies, will continue to illustrate the discrimination and impact of the initiative.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights launched the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case and brought together Olson and Boies to lead the litigation.

This past week ten witnesses, including Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo and five eminent experts, clearly and convincingly demonstrated critical points during its opening week, including the importance of marriage in American society; that Proposition 8 perpetrates irreparable, immeasurable and discriminatory harm for no good reason; and that by denying gay men and lesbians the right to marry, Proposition 8 causes grievous harm to the plaintiffs and other gay men and lesbians throughout California, and adds yet another chapter to the long history of discrimination they have suffered.

Taking the stand tomorrow will be, in order:

• Jerry Sanders, the current Republican Mayor and former Police Chief of the City of San Diego who is the father of a lesbian daughter. He will testify about his decision, as Mayor, to support the City of San Diego’s participation in an amicus brief advocating against the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and why he concluded supporting marriage equality was and is in the best interest of the local government and community.  City Attorney Dennis Herrera will conduct the direct examination of Mayor Sanders.
• M.V. Lee Badgett, Ph.D., a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who will testify about the private harms caused by Prop. 8 and the impact of same-sex marriage on the marriages of different-sex couples
• Ryan Kendall, a gay man who will testify about the “conversation therapy” he underwent in his youth and how he has been affected by discrimination

You might recall Republican Mayor Sanders’ emotional press conference about his daughter as he changed his mind about marriage equality. Karen Ocamb:

“Jerry Sanders gave a news conference that surprised the hell out of the LGBT community – tearfully telling how he had to support marriage equality because he didn’t want anything less for his lesbian daughter and her girlfriend. We panted for that video which we re-played and re-played – some of us wondering with tears streaming down our faces – if our fathers would put their careers on the line to stand up for us.”

Below the fold, a short summary of the witness testimony on Friday.

Witnesses on Friday included Dr. Michael Lamb, a Professor and Head of the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at Cambridge University told the court, “We have a substantial body of evidence documenting that a child being raised by same-sex parents are just as likely to be well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents.” Dr. Lamb also testified (referring to children of gay and lesbian parents) that: “For a significant number of these children, their adjustment would be promoted were their parents able to get married.”

He was followed by Helen Zia, the last witness of the week. She is an Asian American author and a lesbian. She testified about her experiences with discrimination, the effects of being denied the right to marry and the importance of being able to be married in 2008. “My mother, an immigrant from China, she really doesn’t get what ‘partner’ is,” Zia said. “Marriage made it very clear that I was family, that we were family, and I was where I belonged.”

Chris Geidner also shares his thoughts as the case enters week 2.