Just the latest in the Prop 8 trial news…

Judge Walker announced the results of public comments regarding the question about whether or not to televise the trial. 138,542 people were in favor of televising it, and only 32 people were opposed to it. While those numbers are incredible, members of the anti-gay side filed an emergency appeal with the US Supreme Court which essentially begged them to hide the trial from being seen by the American public, the people it affects. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court ruled to block televising the trial today. So much for transparency.

What are these people who went to so much effort to block the trial from being shown on television trying to hide? Are they ashamed of their homophobic views? Do they fear being ridiculed if people find out that they support the unfair treatment and denial of rights of millions of their fellow citizens? If they do, and if they would be ashamed, they have to know somewhere deep inside that the position they are supporting is wrong.

You can keep track of the trial on Prop8TrialTracker.com, a site started by the Courage Campaign.

Sign the petition to televise the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Prop 8) trial!

First, a little background info…

There is a US District Court case called Perry v. Schwarzenegger whose trial is set to begin on January 11th. It is significant and interesting for a number of reasons. First, the case challenges the validity of Proposition 8 which repealed same-sex marriage in California in November 2008. Second, the plaintiff, Kristin Perry, is being represented by two of the most highly regarded lawyers in the country, David Boies and Theodore Olsen. Third, these two layers are on very different parts of the political spectrum as far as what they believe (for instance, Olsen is known to be a conservative and represented George W. Bush in the SCOTUS case Bush v. Gore following the 2000 presidential election, while Boies represented Al Gore in that case), but they are both working together in this effort because they both believe that Prop 8 violates the US Constitution. That alone says a lot.

An effort is underway right now in the days leading up to the trial to get enough signatures to petition the trial’s judge, Vaughn R. Walker, to allow the trial to be televised. This is not some random effort, though. Judge Walker is considering televising the trial and has actually asked members of the public to comment and offer their opinions. The court initiated the effort to determine whether cameras should be allowed to film the trial, and it is up to us to prove that they should be. The proceedings and outcome of this trial affect the rights and lives of an enormous number of people. These people deserve to know what is going on in a trial in which they have a stake. Short of building a new courtroom with space for millions and millions of seats, putting the trial on TV is the best way to provide people with access to the trial.

The Courage Campaign has set up a special webpage to make it really easy for people to show their support for televising this trial. Please go sign this petition to urge Judge Walker to allow the trial to be televised. Thank you.