Testimony About Trauma, Prejudice in Prop 8 Trial

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 21) -- A gay Denver Police Department employee testified about the trauma he suffered as a teenager when his desperate evangelical parents tried to force him to change his sexual orientation, as the federal trial challenging California's Proposition 8 continued this week.

Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders testified about learning that his daughter was a lesbian and how he came to grips with his own prejudice when he almost vetoed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage.

"I was discriminating even against my own daughter," he said.

And a parade of psychologists, historians, economists and other academics have taken the stand to talk about the discrimination gay people face in daily life, the changing history of marriage and the economic benefits of allowing gays to marry.

The trial is the first step in determining the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriages. Whichever side loses is certain to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

For much of the past week and a half, the trial has resembled a wide-ranging seminar on issues such as the psychological harm caused by discrimination against gays and the role of organized religion in promoting intolerance.

"This is literally the first time in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender fight for equality that a thorough examination of the motivations of both sides has been put on trial," said Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the progressive Courage Campaign. "That in itself is truly historic."

The case was brought by a lesbian couple from Berkeley and a gay couple from Burbank who are seeking to overturn Proposition 8 so they can get married. Their legal team is led by high-profile lawyers Theodore Olson and David Boies, who took opposing sides in the 2000 Florida presidential-ballot battle. (Olson represented George Bush and went on to become his solicitor general; Boies represented Al Gore.)

The first seven days of the Proposition 8 trial have been taken up by the plaintiffs' case, which is expected to finish this week. The defense team is expected to call only a few witnesses. The trial could end by early next week.

Proposition 8's attorneys have tried to show on cross-examination that gays have plenty of rights and political influence and that their clients' goal was to protect "traditional marriage," not discriminate against anyone.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, is trying the case without a jury. Walker could rule the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional if he finds that its passage was based on anti-gay prejudice.

On Wednesday, the court heard from Ryan Kendall, 26, the Denver police employee who was called to the stand to address the question of whether people can change their sexual orientation.

He said he was 11 when he realized he was attracted to boys, but he also knew this was something to keep secret. Even so, he was harassed by other students, who called him "faggot" and "gay." The bullying became so bad that his parents moved him to another school.

When he was 13, his mother found a journal in which he had admitted to himself that he was gay. His parents became very angry. "I remember my mother looking at me and telling me I was going to burn in hell," he said.

His deeply religious parents took him to counselors, who tried to convert him to heterosexuality. Kendall testified that he knew it wouldn't work. "I knew I was gay just like I know I am short and half-Hispanic," he said.

He said he was not aware of anyone whose sexual orientation had changed through therapy. One young man who was held up by his counselor as a model of conversion told Kendall privately that he was just pretending to be straight to please his family.

Kendall testified that he was 16 when he stopped going to reversal therapy. His parents became increasingly abusive. He went to the human services department and asked to be removed from his home.

"During this whole thing, my life had fallen apart," he said, his voice breaking. "I didn't have the world I grew up in, my faith, my family. I realized at one point that if I didn't stop going, I was not going to survive. I probably would have killed myself."

The defense had sought to keep Kendall off the stand, arguing that his testimony was not relevant. But Walker ruled that the defense had opened the door for his testimony by arguing that sexual orientation was a conscious choice.

During cross-examination, defense attorney James Campbell questioned whether Kendall knew anyone who had voluntarily undergone conversion therapy. "That's not my experience," Kendall said.

"Your only goal was to survive the experience," Campbell said. "Your goal wasn't to decrease your sexual attraction."

"That's true," Kendall replied.

A day earlier, the court heard from another witness who had wrestled with the question of sexual orientation, in this case his daughter's.

Mayor Sanders, a 26-year cop and former San Diego police chief, said his daughter, Lisa, was in college when she told him in 2003 she was a lesbian. He immediately felt fear for her, he said, because as a police officer he had witnessed the discrimination that gays suffer.

In 2007, he was preparing to veto a City Council resolution that supported same-sex marriage and met with gay supporters to inform them of his plan. He said he was shocked to realize how deeply they were hurt and decided not to go through with the veto.

Sanders said he realized his decision to veto the measure had been "grounded in prejudice."

The plaintiffs presented a variety of experts from top universities, including Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Cambridge. Witnesses said that gays and lesbians are just as good parents as heterosexuals are, and that same-sex partners are more committed and stable when they are married.

On Wednesday, Stanford political science professor Gary Segura testified that gays and lesbians are more often a target of discrimination than any other segment of society, including illegal immigrants. More than 200 ballot measures have been aimed at restricting the rights of gays and lesbians in recent years, he told the court.

"There is no group in American society who has been targeted by ballot measures more than gays and lesbians," Segura testified. "The initiative process is really the Waterloo of gay and lesbian politics."