Prop 8/Marriage Roundup: January 24
- The Hawaii State Senate passes civil unions.
- Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders writes on his Prop 8 testimony on the Huffington Post.
- The plaintiffs in the Prop 8 trial will rest their case on Monday.
- Maureen Dowd column on Gavin Newsom.
- The origins of Prop 8 reasoning is uncovered:
David Boies: You say here that the Netherlands legalized polygamy and incest after legalizing same sex marriage?
Hak-Shing William Tam: Yes
Boies: Who told you that?
Tam: The internet
Boies: The internet?
Tam: Yes
Boies: Somewhere out in the internet, it says the Netherlands legalized polgamy and incest?
Tam: I did not write that, someone else found it.
Boies: And you believed it?
Tam: It was in the document, so I thought it was true.
The defendants in this case — those who would deny equal rights to others — would like us to believe that they are the true victims of discrimination. They argue that their opposition to marriage equality has made them targets of violence. They’ve made this argument as their excuse for withholding documents from the public, and it is as self-serving as it is inaccurate.
From my own experience as a police officer and mayor, I can say that the overwhelming evidence is that violence is directed against gays and lesbians, not those who would deny them equality.
In my own city, there have been terrible hate crimes committed against gays and lesbians, including a savage beating just a few years ago of a young man attending the Pride Festival. The perpetrators of this type of violence are only encouraged by those who want their own prejudices to be validated through government-sanctioned discrimination. It’s like giving them permission.
