Discriminatory Motivations of Prop 8 Exposed in Court Today

Earlier today, I posted guest blogger Davina Kotulski's account of today's exchange in the Prop 8 trial hearing. In it, she wrote about Dr. William Tam of the Traditional Family Coalition and the airing of his video taped deposition. It exposed his prejudiced POV of the LGBT population.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the challenge to Prop 8, just released the following press release which contains more detail and evidence of discriminatory motivations behind those responsible for Prop 8. Proving that Prop 8 proponents acted with animus towards gays and lesbians is the challenge for the plaintiffs in their efforts to show that Prop 8 is unconstitutional and should be thrown out. The press release:

**Deposition Video and Campaign Communications from One of Five Official Proponents of Initiative Presented in Court Today

**Official Proponents Personally Responsible for Putting Prop. 8 on ballot, and Taking Over Defense of Prop. 8 in this Trial through Intervention

Evidence introduced today during the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial exposed the discriminatory motivations of Proposition 8, as demonstrated by campaign communications and statements by William Tam, an Official Proponent of the initiative. Video of Tam's deposition, which was taken on Dec. 1, 2009, was shown in court today.

Question: “And it is your understanding that part of the gay agenda is legalizing underage sex?”

Answer: “Right.” (Page 43 of deposition)

On Monday and Tuesday, the court viewed Yes on Prop. 8 ads urging voters to “protect our children.” Now it's apparent that this message was working in concert with the type of discriminatory communications we heard today from an Official Proponent of Prop. 8. This is powerful evidence.

“They lose no time in pushing the gay agenda --- after legalizing same-sex marriage, they want to legalize prostitution. What will be next? On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children.” (Pro-Prop. 8 email by Tam, page 78 of deposition and full text of email below)

“We hope to convince Asian-Americans that gay marriage will encourage more children to experiment with the gay lifestyle and that the lifestyle comes with all kinds of disease.” (Pro-Prop. 8 media interview by Tam, page 77 of deposition)

“Question: And how did that come to be? How did it come to be that you were part of that debate? "

“Answer: I was told by Protect Marriage to take part in that debate."

“Question: What do you remember saying on that topic of children and Prop 8?"

“Answer: Oh, I was saying that if same -sex marriage is legalized, then every child can grow up thinking whether he would marry John or Jane when they grow up.” (Tam discussing his arguments during a Pro-Prop 8 debate, page 73 of deposition)

Tellingly, Tam last week asked the court for permission to withdraw from the case. As an Official Proponent of Proposition 8, Tam was personally responsible for putting Prop. 8 on the ballot and voluntarily taking over the initiative's defense through intervening in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Tam's withdrawal request came on the heels of an unsuccessful, months-long effort to conceal widespread campaign communications, and extensive efforts to prevent any broadcast of the trial, even to other federal courtrooms.

“I voluntarily sought to intervene in the subject case along with the four other Official Proponents of Proposition 8. Our motion to intervene was granted June 20, 2009.” (Declaration of Tam in support of his request to withdraw from the case)

“As an official proponent, I invested substantial time, effort, reputation, and personal resources in campaigning for Proposition 8. For example, I dedicated the majority of my working hours between January 2008 and November 2008 toward qualifying Proposition 8 for the ballot and campaigning for its enactment.” (Declaration of Tam in support of proposed intervenors' motion to intervene)

TEXT OF TAM PRO-PROP 8 LETTER FROM WILLIAM TAM

Dear Friends:

This November, San Francisco voters will vote on a ballot to "legalize prostitution". This is put forth by the SF city government, which is under the rule of homosexuals. They lose no time in pushing the gay agenda --- after legalizing same-sex marriage, they want to legalize prostitution. What will be next? On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children. I hope we all wake up now and really work to pass Prop 8. We have only 48 days left. Even if you have church building projects, mission projects, concert projects, etc, please consider postponing them and put all the church man/woman power to work on Prop 8. We can't lose this critical battle. If we lose, this will very likely happen......

1. Same-Sex marriage will be a permanent law in California. One by one, other states would fall into Satan's hand.

2. Every child, when growing up, would fantasize marrying someone of the same sex. More children would become homosexuals. Even if our children is safe, our grandchildren may not. What about our children's grandchildren?

3. Gay activists would target the big churches and request to be married by their pastors. If the church refuse, they would sue the church. Even if they know they may not win, they would still sue because they have a big army of lawyers from ACLU who would work for free. They know a prolonged law suit would cripple the church. They had sued the California government many times before. They sue until they win. They would not be afraid to sue a church. The church would have to spend lots of money in defending the case. The court fight would be long and the congregation would be discouraged and leave --- how long are they willing to shoulder the law suit costs. The church may give in and accept them, their membership would grow and take over the church. Then a righteous pastor would have to leave. Such scenarios have happened in Scandinavian countries. At that time, churches would keep quiet, hoping that they won't be picked as the next target.

If your church is sued, don't expect others to help your church. You would be in the battle alone, and chances are you would lose. If that happens, whatever nice building your church have built now would become meaningless.

In order not to let this happen, we better team up at the current battle to defeat same-sex marriage. Collectively, we have a chance to win. Right now, each church sacrifice a little. For 48 days, delay your projects, put your resources ($ and manpower) into Prop 8. We'd have great power if we pool our resources together. Let's win this battle. After victory, your congregation would be energized and go back to the original projects with joy and cheer. They may want to give more and build a bigger building to thank God. Our God would be pleased and bless us more. But if we lose, our congregation would lose heart. They might not want to work as hard. Our opponents would be overjoyed. They would do more and change more laws so as to persecute us easier. Churchs would have a much much harder time to survive. We would be collecting offerings to fight law suits instead of building new buildings. I pray that day would not come. The choice is yours. Talk to the leaders of your church. Your actions would change the history in either direction.

Thanks for your efforts,

Bill Tam

Traditional Family Coalition

See actual email sent out by Tam on the last page of the court filing below.

Plaintiff's Trial Brief Challenging Prop 8

Interview contained in this video with Tam expressing his views.