Prop. 8 Trial: Gay Marriage Testimony Ends, Closing Arguments Will Wait

After 12 days of testimony at the high-profile Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco, lawyers for both sides of the gay marriage lawsuit have rested their cases. The last piece of business for the attorneys will be closing arguments, which will be given several weeks from now.

Patrick Range McDonald

Proposition 8 protestors in West Hollywood in October, 2008.

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The last day was once again a contentious one, with Prop. 8 plaintiffs' lawyer David Boies, who wants to overturn Califorina's same sex marriage ban, aggressively cross-examining pro-Prop. 8 witness David Blankenhorn.

Boies and Blankenhorn clashed in court on Tuesday over whether or not marriage was established for the purposes of procreation, among other issues.

But by noon on Wednesday, testimony was completed, live-bloggers in the courtroom such as Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs were probably exhausted, and U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker told attorneys that on February 26 he'll schedule a date for closing arguments.

So the Prop. 8 lawsuit probably won't go to the judge for full deliberations until March.

In the meantime, trial watchers can catch up on what they missed by watching the Prop. 8 video re-enactments at www.marriagetrial.com.

Also, people can peruse the trial's transcripts -- believe it or not,  they can make for interesting reading -- at the American Foundation for Equal Rights Web site. The pro-gay marriage, Los Angeles-based group is bankrolling the Prop. 8 lawsuit.

Despite a U.S. Supreme Court order that blocked a delayed video feed from coming out of San Francisco, the Prop. 8 trial is still probably one of the most thoroughly covered courthouse events in recent gay American history.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.