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Today at noon ET, the plaintiffs in the Perry v. Brown case will be back in District Court for a hearing in front of Chief Judge James Ware regarding whether the video recordings of the Proposition 8 trial can be released to the public. Proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional in August 2010.
The desperation of the proponents of discrimination in this case have fought tooth and nail to suppress these tapes. Why? Because their “evidence”, which amounts to “we don’t like gays and lesbians marrying” was completely destroyed. Ted Olsen and David Boies legally humiliated the few pro-Prop 8 “experts” that decided to take the stand. (BTW, Maggie Gallagher was nowhere to be found as far as testimony during this trial).
The event will be live-Tweeted by The American Foundation for Equal Rights (@AFER), the sole sponsor of the Perry case, and you can follow it via the PHB widget in the sidebar.
From AFER’s emailed press release:
During the Prop. 8 trial, then-Chief Judge Vaughn Walker allowed the entire trial proceedings to be videotaped. Because the trial tapes are now part of the District Court record and record on appeal, Plaintiffs contend that the First Amendment and the common law establish a strong presumption that these judicial records are open to the public. Moreover, Prop. 8 Proponents have offered no legitmate reason or factual evidence to keep the entire video recording of the trial secret.
The City and County of San Francisco and Media Coalition members including The LA Times, CNN, The New York Times, FOX News, NBC News, The Associated Press and others filed briefs urging the court to release the videotapes of the public trial.
In addition, both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times editorial boards published editorials last week calling for the release of the Prop. 8 trial tapes, and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press published an Op-Ed advocating for the public’s right to see the video recordings.
NOTE: The Courage Campaign’s Prop 8 Trial Tracker is liveblogging the hearing today.
15 Comments
Reading AFER’s tweets, it sounds like they are playing the actual video of the trial at this hearing after playing a re-enactment segment, allowing the judge to compare the differences between actors playing a role and the real litigants testifying in the trial. Which is a brilliant way to show that re-enactments are great and all, but they don’t convey the emotion of a real person affected by this discrimination.
What a marvelous legal team our side has here; it’s a magnificent strategy. I only wish we could all actually see what’s happening in the courtroom today!
Supressing the trial tapes is essential to homophobia. We’re supposed to be spoken of soto voce. And we’re NEVER supposed to be able to speak for ourselves. Our status as “Unspeakables” is to be understood by one at all — never questioned, never challenged.
That game is over.
Oh and Hi Pam! Welcome to the Lake.
I’m just hoping for a further humiliation of the H8ers. Can’t humiliate them enough in my book. Motherfuckers.
The anti-gay side appears to not wish to stand behind their statements. If I were them, I wouldn’t want to have to stand there either.
The wise folks were the ones who decided not to testify.
Boxturtle (Alas for the h8ers, looking like a fool is not cause to supress a trial record)
Not sure how we can top the humilation they’ve already visited upon themselves. Unless we can make them realize just how bad their positions make them look to everyone outside their church.
Boxturtle (But if we did that, I think we’d have suicides)
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the Prop 8 arguments need lots of it. Let the people see what happened in that courtroom last year!
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Thanks, and — again — welcome.
Cowards. All of them.
Come, come. A little sympathy for them.
They’re right: The folks who gave testimony will likely experience a public backlash. Decent people won’t use their services or invite them to parties. They’ll be ridiculed when they appear in public. Everything they write from this point on will be looked at through the light of their testimony, even if it has nothing to do with Prop 8.
Boxturtle (They can find their sympathy in the dictionary between S**t and syphilis)
Sounds like a tamer version of my school days. So no sympathy from me.
This is like rats scurrying to avoid the light.
IIRC, Boutros stated that why was it perfectly fine for the Prop H8 proponents to be in front of the cameras *outside* the courtroom, but then once inside, be afraid of being targeted by teh evul gays?
What about the appeals that NOM has filed to force it to disclose its donor list? How long will that process take and what will the penalties be if they lose the appeals and still refuse to disclose?
This website should publish the pics, backgrounds, and testimony of the witnesses for the H8ters. If that info is already available, there should be no impediment to releasing the tapes. There would be no one to ‘protect’.