Jamie Lee Curtis, Matt Bomer, Martin
Sheen, Jane Lynch, George Takei and George Clooney are among the
Hollywood stars set to appear in the Los Angeles premiere of the play
8.
8, which was written by Milk
screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is based on the trial over the
constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
The 13-day trial held last year in San
Francisco resulted in federal Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired,
declaring the ban unconstitutional. Proponents of Proposition 8
appealed the ruling, and gay and lesbian couples in California remain
barred from marrying.
“This play will continue to show
Americans – one by one – that prejudice and fear cannot stand up
to truth and justice,” Chad Griffin, board president of AFER, the
group formed specifically to support the legal challenge to the law,
said in a statement. “Try as they might, the anti-gay marriage
proponents of Proposition 8 cannot hide their discriminatory
arguments from the American people.”
The Broadway premiere of the event
raised over $1 million for the fight to win marriage equality.
Clooney and Sheen will play plaintiffs'
lead co-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, respectively.
Maggie Gallagher, co-founder and former chairman of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM) will be played by Glee co-star
Lynch.
(Related: George
Clooney calls gay marriage a civil right.)
8 will be performed as a reading
at the Wilshire Ebell Theater for one night only on March 3.