A federal appeals court in California
on Thursday ruled against releasing the video of the 2010 trial that
resulted in declaring Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban,
unconstitutional.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals said the video from the 12-day trial should
remain sealed because defenders had been promised by the trial judge
that it would be used for internal purposes only.
“The trial judge on several occasions
unequivocally promised that the recording of the trial would be used
only in chambers and not publicly broadcast,” the court said.
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge
Ware ruled that “No compelling reasons exist for continued sealing
of the digital recording of the trial.”
Protect Marriage, the coalition of
mostly religious groups that sponsored Proposition 8, appealed the
decision. The group's lawyers argued that releasing the recording
would put defense witnesses at risk of harassment from opponents of
the constitutional amendment which overruled a 2008 California
Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in the state.
Gay rights advocates called the
decision “disappointing.”
“The court's decision to keep the
people from seeing this public record of one of the most important
trials in American history is extremely disappointing,” Kate
Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian
Rights, said in a statement. “As those lucky enough to have
watched the trial saw, the defenders of Prop 8 were unable to offer a
shred of evidence to support it, while the plaintiffs presented a
mountain of compelling reasons to strike down this unjust and
damaging law. The public deserves the same chance to see the facts
for themselves.”