The state of Michigan spent $40,000 on
witnesses in a recent gay marriage trial whose expert testimony was
largely dismissed.
According to the AP, Joy Yearout,
spokeswoman for the Michigan attorney general's office, said that
more bills are expected.
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman on
Friday ruled invalid Michigan's restrictive marriage amendment.
Roughly 300 couples exchanged vows on Saturday before an appeals
court temporarily stayed Friedman's ruling as the state pursues an
appeal.
(Related: Hundreds
marry in Michigan before appeals court stays gay marriage decision.)
Among those testifying for the state
during a 2-week trial in Detroit was Canadian economist Douglas
Allen, who claimed that based on Canadian Census data he concluded
that children raised by gay parents are less likely to graduate
compared with children raised by married heterosexual couples.
Under cross-examination, attorney Ken
Mogill asked: “Is it accurate that you believe the consequence of
engaging in homosexual acts is a separation from God and eternal
damnation? In other words, they're going to hell?”
Allen,
a Protestant, answered: “Without repentance, yes.”
The state's star witness was Mark
Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of
Texas at Austin, who testified for more than three hours.
Regnerus is the lead author of a widely
criticized 2012 study which concluded that children are negatively
affected by having gay parents. The study was funded by the socially
conservative New Jersey-based Witherspoon Institute.
Friedman found neither the study nor
its author to be credible.
“The Court finds Regnerus’s
testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious
consideration,” Friedman wrote in his 31-page ruling.
(Related: Judge
in Michigan gay marriage trial declares Mark Regnerus' testimony
“unbelievable.”)