Prop 8 Updates: Anti-gay foes fear TV trial, a Republican lesbian, and poor Rick Warren running out of money
[Defenders of Proposition 8] do object, citing that the exposure will subject witnesses and litigants to the “potential for intimidation” and that perhaps the “right to a fair trial will be undermined.”…. Indeed, some potential witnesses have indicated that they will not be willing to testify at all if the trial is broadcast or webcast beyond the courthouse,” Cooper wrote. He also cited a history of the court prohibiting cameras from trial proceedings.”
Variety reporting on the good possibility a California judge will allow TV cameras to cover an upcoming trial to hear arguments against the constitutionality of Proposition 8. That voter referendum overturned legal marriage for gay men and lesbians in that state when it passed in November of 2008. Many of the people involved in the passage of Prop 8 have whined and cried about alleged discrimination, vandalism and intimidation after their names were revealed via public records. Anti-gay political forces have used this same argument in other regions of the country where they have fought against gay marriage this past year. Yet, they neglect to mention that the YesOn8 website was the first to publish many of the same donors names as part of a boastful, popularity tactic to get more people to join their effort. They only later removed the entire list once it became clear that there would be a heated backlash. (Variety)
”Because I am running for a judicial seat, I am bound by the California Code of Judicial Ethics…. In all honesty, I do not believe it would be appropriate for me to give you my personal opinion on Prop 8…. It is irrelevant what race, creed, sexual orientation, or gender someone possesses. What matters is that all participants in the judicial system be treated with fairness and respect.”
Anne Marie Schubert, responding to questions from the Bay Area Reporter on being a lesbian and the fact her brother Frank Schubert was a “mastermind” behind California‘s infamous Proposition 8. BAR reports that Ms. Schubert is running for a seat as a judge in Sacramento, is a registered Republican and shares a home with another woman. (eBar)
”With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out. On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive – leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow…. Click HERE right now to and give as large an end-of-the-year gift as you can to help avert this crisis. If we all do what God leads us to do, we’ll all be a part of a miracle…. I love you so much. It is a deep privilege to be your pastor.”
Part of an emergency fundraising letter from Rick Warren to his Saddleback Church members. Warren has boasted for a long time that his “Purpose-Driven Life” book was such a huge success that he and his wife, Kay, were not in need of money. The pair claims to serve the needs of people around the world with their wealth including an AIDS foundation. Warren has repeatedly spoken out against gay relationships and homosexuality over the last year and a half, while at the same saying he has gay congregants and friends because he loves everyone. He equated gay marriage with incest and pedophilia, and he twice put out a call for his Saddleback Church members to support the anti-gay marriage referendum, Proposition 8, adding that all Christians should do the same. He frequently speaks highly of PEPFAR, President George Bush‘s global “AIDS Relief” program. That government program became popular with Evangelicals and other religious conservatives — perhaps because of it’s requirements for abstinence-only programs or maybe they were attracted to the many billions of dollars that have been earmarked for the program. Unfortunately, some of that money has gone to extremely anti-gay churches in places like Uganda, where preachers like Martin Ssempa have helped to craft and promote a horrible bill that calls for life-long imprisonment of gay people, even death-by-hanging for “repeat offenders.” Rick Warren is reported to have brought Martin Ssempa to his California-based Saddleback Church to speak to its members. Warren now claims he and his wife cut ties with Ssempa in 2007, and that they not responsible for the “kill the gays bill.” Religious leaders in that country responded to Warren’s slow-to-arrive criticism of the bill with harsh criticism of their own. (Saddleback)
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