Prop. 8 trial Day 5: Live coverage from the courtroom

Contra Costa Times: “Judge Vaughn Walker, over the objections of Prop 8 lawyers, has decided to allow the testimony of Helen Zia, a San Francisco writer and lesbian who married in 2008 before the marriage ban took hold in the state . . . Prop 8 lawyer Brian Raum tried to argue that her testimony is irrelevant, and that it is inappropriate to have one person ‘taken off the street’ to testify on a same-sex marriage, saying such evidence should come into the trial through scientific studies of more couples . . . Prop 8 attorney Brian Raum cross-examined Zia, depicting her as an activist who has campaigned against Prop 8 and took part in the earlier state court challenge to California’s prior ban on gay marriage, struck down by the California Supreme Court.”