esrosedotblog

THE LAST WORD

Yesterday were closing arguments in the trial to nullify Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in California.

The judge gave the defense a pretty thorough going over. Rough.

Closing Arguments in Marriage Trial

It is pretty well known that the federal judge in this case is gay. Vaughn Walker (right). He was assigned in the usual way. They can't claim bias.

He is not a closet case but he is not out there either. The civil rights laws protect him from any persecution over this.

This gives a nice twist of the irony of fate in the matter.

He is skeptical that the purpose of marriage is to make babies. Or that any straight couple getting married is going to say to themselves "gee, I am going to be doing something good for my community". He also questioned the credentials of a key witness the defense used.

He was even handed. He challenged some of the points of the other side.

It is all quite interesting.

This is the case that many gay righters were skeptical. It is being argued by Theodore Olson and David Boies (left). Olsen is an arch conservative. Boies is, well, a lefty. Both are at the top of the game.

They came into the case because Olson, particularly, felt that the abridgment of rights for gay people was wrong. He and Boies are old protagonists for opposite sides in the culture wars. They are together on this one.

They are the best.

The defense offered an argument, again, that the 18,000 marriages held in California in the brief time the law was in effect, be nullified.

That means us. Me.

We shall see what happens. It will not end here. Walker will write his opinion and then it will be appealed. Some day, we will have our story told in the Supreme Court. Unless, perhaps, the court refuses to hear an appeal to Walker's decision to quash the law.

Another irony.

The closing arguments took place two years to the day — June 16, 2008 — that same-sex couples began to get married in California at the start of a five-month period when such unions were legal there. Proposition 8 ended those ceremonies, though the California Supreme Court ruled in May 2009 that the some 18,000 marriages performed in that period were still valid.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights