Prop. 8 Proponents Desperately Trying to Hide Trial Tapes from Public

Today, Plaintiffs in Perry v. Brown -- the case to overturn the ban on marriage for gay and lesbian Californians -- urged Chief Judge James Ware to unseal the video recordings of the Proposition 8 trial, citing the strong presumption of public access to judicial records and the lack of any basis to keep the video secret. Prop. 8 was ruled unconstitutional in August 2010.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) is the sole sponsor of the Perry lawsuit.

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 legitimate reason or factual evidence to keep the entire video recording of the trial secret.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• marriage
• lgbt
• civil rights
• federal district court
• prop 8
• proposition 8
• chad griffin
• dennis herrera
• ted boutros
• afer
• yes on 8
• no on 8
• gay
• lesbian
• family

[nicksum29]

When the tide of politics changes, the bigots want to hide in the dark like so many cockroaches, The same thing happened in South Africa after the fall of Apartheid.

[TheManray05]

The Prop 8'ers are fully aware of how they will be peerceived if those tapes are shown. They are crazy, irrational Jesus freaks who retreat to "procreation" as a supposed argument why gay people shoudln't get married. Ignoring any real evidence in a courtroom costs you a trial. They lost for a reason - and not because the judge was gay.

[sfsd911]

"Marriage is a spiritual union after sex between a man and a women under God.

Gay marriage is just a legal marriage request. Gays can never truly marry, so its just an emotional trip from psychos and political trouble makers that want to force society to allow child adoption and acceptance to a group suffering a mental disorder."

[whereisYOURoutrage]

The bigots don't want the court tapes released because: A) The tapes show how ill-informed and hate-focused their whole case is. B) The tapes reveal the bigots admitting that marriage equality will have NO negative effect on heterosexual couples.

[smithbc81]

They want "the people to have a vote" but not the people to get to see the trial. Why do they want to hide? They are bigots, have no real argument, are blind faithed morons who can't use their brains.

[beeblmeyer]

Now, why would someone want to hide the truth?

Hmmm.....

[peveritis]

There must be a darned good reason to keep public records a Secret from the Public.

[jesaro07]

If We, the taxpayers, paid for the trial, Why can't we see them?!