SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – A six-month trial on whether to overturn a California ban on gay marriage ended dramatically on Wednesday when a lawyer defending the prohibition said he did not need evidence to prove the purpose of marriage.
The case is likely headed for the U.S. Supreme Court no matter how District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rules on California’s gay marriage ban. A decision there could determine the fate of same-sex marriage in the United States for years.
California voters approved the ban known as Prop 8 in 2008, dismaying gay advocates and their allies who had hoped the trend-setting state would side with them.
However U.S. voters in state referendums across the nation have consistently opposed same-sex marriage. It is legal in only five states and the District of Columbia due to court and legislative action.
Arguing for the ban to be reversed was conservative jurist Ted Olson, who served as U.S. solicitor general under former President George W. Bush. He partnered with David Boies, his adversary in the 2000 Supreme Court decision that put Bush in the White House.
Throughout the case, Olson and Boies argued that the ban discriminated against one segment of the population by denying them the fundamental right to marry and that same sex marriage was no threat to heterosexuals.
Conservative Charles Cooper led the defense, arguing that it is reasonable to fear that allowing same-sex marriage would undermine heterosexual marriage and self-evident that the purpose of marriage was procreating and raising children.
