UPDATE! LIVE: Summary of Proceedings From Prop 8 Trial

The following summary was provided by mercurynews.com. They are also featuring an amazing photo gallery that can be viewed directly from their site. Take a look, the photos are truly amazing.

12:30 p.m.: Judge recesses for lunch break
Paul Katami has finished up his testimony under questioning from lawyer David Boies, and will be cross-examined after lunch. The judge just recessed until 1:30. Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, a Berkeley couple and the other plaintiffs in the case, are expected to testify this afternoon.

12:14 p.m.: Partner testifies
Plaintiff Paul Katami, like his partner, Jeff Zarrillo, has spent some emotional time on the stand, describing both the difficulty of coming out as a gay man and the impact on him of not being able to marry. “Unless you have to deal with that, unless you have to go through this constant validation of self, there is no way to describe how it feels,” he said of being denied the right to wed.

At another point, he grew visibly upset when asked about the Proposition 8 campaign and its reliance on the slogan, “Protect our Children.” He called the campaign insulting. “If you put my nieces and nephews on the stand right now, I’d be the cool uncle,” he said, chuckling.

Then, growing serious, he continued by choking up at the thought that gay marriage would harm children. “There is no recovering from that,” he testified.

Lawyer David Boies played some of the campaign videos that focused on harm to children by the Yes on Proposition 8 backers. How did you feel seeing that video? Boies asked.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say my heart was racing and I was angry watching it,” Katami said after the video ended.

11:41 a.m.: Emotional testimony from plaintiff
The Proposition 8 trial may eventually be laden with expert testimony from academics and others, but it is starting off on the emotional side with the testimony of Jeff Zarrillo, one of the plaintiffs seeking the right to marry his partner, Paul Katami.

Zarrillo choked up when asked by lawyer David Boies about the difficulty of coming out as a gay man years ago, recalling small details from his youth, including his fear of going out for his high school football team. Asked about his partner of nine years, he said: “He’s the love of my life. I love him probably more than I love myself.”

Zarrillo, a 36-year-old Burbank man, told the judge he wants to be married so he can “experience the same joy and happiness” as his parents and his brother, who is married. As for domestic partnership, Zarrillo testified it is not equal. “That’s not enough,” he told the packed courtroom. “It’s giving me part of the pie, but not the whole thing.”

After less than 15 minutes, he finished up his testimony. The lawyers defending Proposition 8 chose not to cross-examine him, a bit of a surprise.

11:03 a.m.: Opening statements conclude
The lawyers are done for now in the Proposition 8 trial. Charles Cooper finished his opening statement, defending the need for society to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and limit it to heterosexual couples for its procreative purposes. He told the judge that marriage must be “pro child,” and that would be at risk if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. Cooper insisted that the courts should stay out of the issue and allow the voters to decide whether they want to allow same-sex marriage, but the judge questioned that thesis. “There are certainly lots of issues taken out of the body politic. Why isn’t this one of them?” the judge asked at one point. The court is now taking a break until 11:10, at which time Jeff Zarrillo, one of the plaintiffs seeking the right to marry, will take the stand.

10:31 a.m.: Defense attorney begins presentation
After Stewart’s brief argument, Charles Cooper, the lead attorney for the Proposition 8 defense, has begun his presentation. But that was only after Walker lobbed a tough question to California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s lawyer. Brown has taken the position that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, refusing to defend the law. The judge asked why Brown did not take that position when Proposition 8 was on the ballot, given its importance. When Brown’s deputy, Tamara Pachter, responded that the AG doesn’t take that step in the state’s initiative process, Walker was incredulous. Cooper, meanwhile, is hitting the main points in the defense: that the voters have spoken on the issue, and gay couples in California enjoy strong legal protections under domestic partnership laws. Walker’s first question to Cooper was on the example of President Obama’s mixed-race parents and the evolution of marriage in the country, raised earlier by Olson. Cooper argues that the restrictions on interracial marriage were distinct, and weren’t based on efforts to preserve traditional marriage, as is the case in the same-sex marriage case. The judge wants to know what evidence in the trial will show that difference.

10:18 a.m.: Obama’s parents mentioned
Olson is now on a roll with fewer interruptions from the judge. He pointed out that under laws that existed in various states until the 1960s, when the U.S. Supreme Court finally declared bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional, President Barack Obama’s parents would have been unable to marry, underscoring what he argued is the discriminatory impact of selective marriage laws. He called the argument that domestic partnership laws are sufficient protection for same-sex couples “a cruel fiction” and a “badge of inferiority” for gay couples. Walker did ask Olson why the courts shouldn’t just stay out of the gay marriage debate for now and allow the political process to continue to resolve the conflict. “That is why we have courts,” Olson replied. “That’s why we have a constitution.” Olson just completed his opening argument, and now Therese Stewart, San Francisco’s chief deputy city attorney, is making her argument about how denying marriage rights to same-sex couples can impact local governments. Stewart is a veteran of the gay marriage legal battles. She argued the issue in both cases that reached the California Supreme Court.

9:45 a.m.: Judge peppers attorney with questions
Just a few minutes into Olson’s opening statement, it’s clear Walker is not going to be a bystander content to just listen during the trial. He’s already peppered Olson with questions, including wondering whether a state needs to remain in the business of issuing marriage licenses and why domestic partnership provisions confer lesser legal rights and meaning than marriage. When Olson said Californians would never get “out of the marriage business,” the judge was persistent. “Why won’t they get out of the marriage business? It would solve this problem,” Walker said. It is likely the judge will raise every possible question during the next two weeks, his style in even routine cases. Olson revealed the first four witnesses to take the stand in the trial will be the plaintiff couples, including a lesbian couple from Berkeley. He opened his remarks by saying: “This case is about marriage and equality. The plaintiffs are being denied both the right to marry and equality under the law.”

9:21 a.m.: Judge takes the bench Walker has just taken the bench
The first five minutes is spent with all the lawyers introducing themselves. Walker is beginning the proceedings by discussing his effort to broadcast the trial by posting it on the court’s Web site by using the YouTube platform. He just noted the court has received more than 138,000 responses to the proposed court rule change that allows broadcast, most in favor. The judge informed the court that only 32 people opposed it, prompting chuckles when he said “the returns are in.” The U.S. Supreme Court nevertheless has put the broadcast on hold until Wednesday to consider the issue.

9:06 a.m.: Opening arguments to begin
The Proposition 8 trial is about to get under way. Walker’s courtroom doesn’t have a spare inch. It’s jammed with spectators, lawyers and media. Theodore Olson, the former U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, is preparing to give the opening statement for the plaintiffs, who are challenging the constitutionality of California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Olson and Charles Cooper, the lead attorney for the Proposition 8 defense, exchanged an embrace outside the courtroom, not surprising given the two men are members of the conservative legal establishment who now find themselves on the opposite sides of the controversial trial. A little Hollywood flavor is in the courtroom with director Rob Reiner.

8:24 a.m.: Judge and lawyers assemble
The Proposition 8 trial is getting ready to start rolling, although cameras will not roll with the proceedings. The U.S. Supreme Court this morning issued an order blocking Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s move to post the trial on a delayed basis on YouTube, at least for the first few days, while the justices consider the issue. Proposition 8 backers have been vigorously trying to block broadcast of the trial, pushing the matter all the way to the nation’s high court. Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been gathered outside the San Francisco federal building, many of them participating in a rally in support of gay marriage. And everyone is now lining up outside Walker’s courtroom, readying for the start of trial, which is set to begin about 9 a.m.