Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality (57 page)

Kristina Schake and Chad Griffin plot strategy in the war room as David Boies, on the right, looks on. The constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 was always intended to be a vehicle for public education, and the legal and political operation worked hand in hand to convince both the courts and the public as the case made its way up to the Supreme Court.

The four plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case were a bundle of nerves on the morning of the first day of trial. From left to right: Paul Katami, Jeff Zarrillo, Kris Perry, and Sandy Stier.

“Any case has its trying elements and its challenges,” Chuck Cooper remarked, regarding his defense of California’s Proposition 8, “and this one had more of them and at different kind of levels than any case, honestly, that I’ve been involved in.”

“Prove it,” Judge Vaughn R. Walker thought as he read through the competing filings in the Proposition 8 case. The result was a first of its kind federal trial, with evidence and testimony that delved into the history of marriage, the science of sexuality, parenting, and the long record of discrimination against gays and lesbians. By deciding to hold a trial, the judge subjected all the rationales offered by supporters of same-sex marriage bans to the crucible of cross-examination. 

“A standing ovation for our plaintiffs!” Olson exclaimed when everyone arrived back at the war room after the emotional, and draining, experience of testifying. Here, he hugs Sandy and Jeff talks with Boies while Kris looks at Olson’s cover essay for
Newsweek
entitled “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” which had just hit the newsstands.

During the trial, some of the younger members of the legal team managed only a few hours of sleep each night. Pictured here, from left to right: Ted Boutrous, Ted Olson, Olson’s wife, Lady Booth Olson, David Boies (with his back turned), Chris Dusseault, Matt McGill, and Amir Tayrani.

From left to right: Kristina, Adam Umhoefer, and Chad and Michele Reiner strain to hear what is happening behind closed doors. Minutes earlier, Judge Walker had released an advance copy of his historic ruling, and inside the lawyers were explaining it to the plaintiffs.

Terry Stewart, the chief deputy of the City of San Francisco, is pictured on the left, chatting with David Boies and Ted Olson. The City of San Francisco intervened in the case on the side of the plaintiffs, and Stewart found many of the witnesses who testified at trial. She and Boies worried far more about what the Supreme Court might do in their case than Olson did.

“The time for waiting is over,” Academy Award–winning producer Bruce Cohen said, when Chad asked him whether he would be willing to buck the incremental strategy establishment gay rights groups were pursuing to win marriage equality for gays and lesbians one state at a time and join the team bringing a federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 and bans like it nationwide. In the foreground here are Cohen (right) and AFER board member Dustin Lance Black, an Academy Award–winning screenwriter, at the courthouse. Cleve Jones, the creator of the AIDS quilt and an AFER board member, and Adam Umhoefer are standing in the background.

The Supreme Court nixed Judge Walker’s plan to broadcast the trial, but it could not stop the AFER team from recreating it.
8
, the play, featured an all-star cast and was seen by nearly a million viewers on YouTube—far more, Walker remarked, than likely ever would have watched the actual trial. On the bench: Brad Pitt as Judge Walker. Front row (left to right): Martin Sheen, George Clooney, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christine Lahti, Matt Bomer, Matthew Morrison, and Kevin Bacon.

Celebrating a win at the Ninth Circuit: From left to right: Kris’s son, Spencer Perry, Kris, Sandy, Paul, Jeff, Chad, and Adam Umhoefer.