The challenge to California's marriage protection amendment continues in San Francisco. Yesterday Gary Segura, a Stanford University political science professor, took the stand as a witness against the amendment.
Segura told the judge that religion has fostered hostility toward gays and lesbians and they must be given special protection under the Constitution.
Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, was in the courtroom.
"Dr. Segura was brought in to basically testify that the gay and lesbian community in California somehow lacks political power," he said, "even though they out-raised the Yes on 8 campaign. They raised $43 million for their campaign."
The opposition also called a young man to the witness stand who claimed his parents had forced him to undergo "conversion therapy" for homosexuality.
"We have a handful of activists that — because they don't like the result of an election — want to overturn the entire democratic process in America," said Nimocks, "and that's just not what our country is about."
