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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJanuary 18th, 2010
Judge Vaughn Walker sought to have Perry v. Schwarzenegger taped and released on YouTube.
But those who are defending Proposition 8 in federal court claimed that their witnesses feared for their personal safety. They were skurrred that their names and faces might become known to radical militant roaming bands of marauding gay activist who would call them “bigots” and make them feel bad. The Supreme Court of the United States listened to their claims of mild inconvenience (dressed up as intimidation and harassment) and moved to strike cameras from the court so as to protect their identity.
But now the trial will be brought to YouTube without the faces and voices of anti-gay witnesses. Actors will play their part. (On Top Magazine)
After the Supreme Court blocked video broadcast of the federal trial to decide the constitutionality of a gay marriage ban last Wednesday, freelance journalist and filmmaker John Ireland decided he’d produce his own version and post it on YouTube.
“People want to see this drama unfold and there is a tremendous narrative that was propelled by that first day of testimony,” Ireland told On Top Magazine on Sunday. “This is the first time that gay and lesbian people have talked about their lives in federal court. It’s historic from that point of view.”
Ireland said he’s basing his storytelling on the accounts of bloggers present at the trial that started last Monday in a San Francisco courtroom.
The first day of testimony should be available on YouTube on Tuesday.
So far we have no reports that the actors playing the witnesses are frightened that their faces may become known. They don’t appear to be skurrred at all.
And we do not yet know whether the fact that others will be playing their roles, thus providing a face to their testimony other than their own, has given the supporters of Proposition 8 any comfort. But somehow I suspect that being skurrred about recognition had little importance in the decision of four of their six witnesses to drop out of the case.
I think they would be just as uncomfortable hearing their words come from the voices of actors. When you know that you base your position on deceit and animus, your shame is the same.
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lurker
January 18th, 2010
That is simply brilliant. I can’t wait to see it.
I assume that they will use the actual transcripts from the trial as the script?
William Lindsey
January 18th, 2010
I second lurker’s comment: brilliant. Kudos to John Ireland for his determination to let us “see” the trial in this innovative way.
Eddie89
January 18th, 2010
This is AWESOME news!
I can’t wait to watch his movies.
Please post a link once it’s available.
johnathan
January 18th, 2010
And now, just wait for the anti-gay forces to come up with some cockamamie (sp?) argument against this wonderful idea.
steve
January 18th, 2010
fantastic!!! i will be posting on facebook and sending to friends and family–spread the word!!
Lindoro Almaviva
January 18th, 2010
Wait, has a final decision been handed yet? I have not seen anything on the news, just that the trial will not be broadcast to other courthouses, but no final decision on the whole has been handed yet. Did i miss something?
Trevor
January 18th, 2010
I predict it will actually be pretty dull viewing. Now its too bad there won’t be an audio recording. THEN they could get the folks from SNL to do “Fun with Real Audio” animations. That would be hilarious.
Timothy Kincaid
January 18th, 2010
Lindoro,
The judge decided not to pursue it.
Brennin
January 19th, 2010
The gays should enlist that little slug Dustin Black to write the screenplay so as to distort the facts as he did with Milk.
occono
January 19th, 2010
I always find it interesting when someone comments on a gay blog and says “the gays” should go do or are doing something in an anti-gay manner…….
I have not seen Milk so I can’t comment on that.
cowboy
January 19th, 2010
Perhaps, Mr. Brennin you are thinking the movie MILK should have been documentary? That movie was never intended to be a documentary. The “slug†you call Dustin Black should be allowed some artistic license and his contribution with the movie has had good consequences. It brought to the forefront just who Harvey Milk was. Some of my buddies never understood anything about the whole ordeal except a smidgen sound bite about “The Twinkie Defenseâ€. I would certainly not call Dustin Black a slug for tweeting that important part of history back into our conscience.
Or should all historical movies should be made strictly as documentaries?
Scott P.
January 19th, 2010
There was a documentary titled “The Life and Times of Harvey Milk” that was a very accurate account of Milk’s life, political career, assassination and it’s aftermath. The movie Milk adhered pretty closely to Harvey’s life, so your complaints, Brennin, are unfounded and seem to be based in homophobia. The clues to this are your phrases “the gays” and “that little slug”.
Jarred
January 19th, 2010
Brennin:
The thing is, this production wasn’t our first choice. Our first choice was to broadcast the real proceedings. That way, there would be no distortion possible. Everything would have been perfectly accurate.
The problem is, the anti-gay crowd didn’t want that. They fought tooth and nail to keep it from happening. They won that fight, so now we have to go with our second choice: a re-enactment.
Now, I personally hope that the videos produced are made as accurate as humanly possible. But if they aren’t 100% accurate, the opponents of equality only have themselves to blame. They blocked the one way to guarantee accuracy, so they share responsibility for any resulting inaccuracies.
Johnny Underscore
January 19th, 2010
Gays have legitimately feared for their personal safety for generations. Making the case that witnesses testifying in defense of Prop 8 might be targets of violence is absurd. At least their fear-based message is consistent.
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