The measure of harm at Proposition 8 Trial

Here are snippets from a blogpost by SSM supporter David Link who blogged about the witness called by the anti-8 litigators to discuss harms and discrimination.

"Some Things You Did Not Want To Know About Sex."

Today’s news from the Prop. 8 trial is that discrimination against lesbians and gay men can have ill effects on their lives.

That should hardly need proving, but this is a court of law, and to opponents who are disinclined to believe much of anything we say, proof is necessary.

The witness assigned to this matter was Dr. Ilan Meyer, Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. He has worked in this field for two decades, and has done numerous studies of the effects of stigma on gay people and same-sex couples.

After reading the liveblogs of his testimony at both Firedoglake and the Courage Campaign, I have to say that the impression I came away with is that the Clinical Sociomedical Sciences make bigger claims than they can live up to. Dr. Meyer was articulate, thoughtful and dedicated, but on cross-examination, it became clear to me that he’s attempting to quantify something that is unquantifiable. In the (imperfect but amazingly timely) transcripts of his answers he constantly seemed, to me, to be tripped up by pretty obvious things.

* * *

Return to "The pro-SSM view of the Proposition 8 trial."