Prop 8 hearing live blog PART II (a.k.a. "Child #1 diary.")
New thread (part II) is up. I know there are some great discussions going on, but please un-rec this diary and rec the other, so we can continue with the liveblog.
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Anyone else watching? I struck out with calchannel.com, but I'm able to see it reasonably well on MSNBC.
We've heard from lead counsel Shannon Minter, Raymond Marshall with his NAACP amicus argument, Michael Maroko for Gloria Allred's office, Therese Stuart, then the hapless guy arguing for Jerry Brown.
Ken Starr is up right now, the lead attorney for ProtectMarriage/Yes-on-8.
From watching the first half, I'm freaking out about Justice Joyce Kennard, a previous swing vote, and don't have a good feeling from what she's said. (She's lovely and elegant, though—I'm fascinated by her, I admit. Yet it's worrisome that Kennard don't seem to feel there's something more than a word at stake, because a whole basket of rights are still protected. What could be more "suspect" than taking that word away from us and our families? Our families? Taking away our marriages is a real and appreciated harm delivered on the children of gay and lesbian married couples in California. Do they not realize that?)
I wonder if any of them are going to ask Ken Starr if the phrase "valid or recognized" would actually put an end to lesbian and gay civil unions. I think Starr will lie, and pretend it doesn't. But I know that if Prop 8 is upheld, they are going to use it to pry away our existing rights. That's why the word "recognized" is in there. Or didn't we already know it was a stealth amendment?
[UPDATE: Starr most certainly said they wouldn't be valid, and suggested they were provisional in the first place.]
What do you think of what you've heard so far?