Rachel Maddow has raised an interesting question: now that Dr. Robert Spitzer has formally debunked his own 2001 study that claimed highly motivated men and women could modify their sexual orientation, what are the ramifications of this with regards to the Prop. 8 Trial, which may battle its way all the way to the US Supreme Court?

Defendants of Prop. 8 heavily hinged their argument, in court, on Spitzer's study and the "evidence" that gays and lesbians could simply change their orientation, thereby meaning they weren't being denied rights. They could simply choose to be straight, and get married.

Now that their main "proof" of this is kaput, what does that do to their case?

Video after the jump.

A star-studded reading of Dustin Lance Black’s play “8,” surrounding the Prop 8 Trial, premieres tonight in Los Angeles, but you can watch it live from the comfort of your home or wherever you access the interwebs.

Details on when, where, and who’s participating after the jump!

Updated 1 p.m. EST

(A trailer for the L.A. production of 8 has been released. View it, after the jump.)

Talk about a gay-friendly (and just plain gay) threesome! Glee's Matthew Morrison and Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson will join George Clooney for the L.A. production of Dustin Lance Black's 8. 

The California Supreme Court has just issued its ruling in the Prop 8 standing case. Details follow.

Prop 8 Trial Tracker is doing the dirty work (our favorite kinda job!) and is live-blogging today's hearing debating the release of the Prop 8 trial tapes. An excerpt from this morning follows.

As anticipated, Protect Marriage filed an emergency appeal in Judge Walker’s dismantling of Prop 8 late yesterday, as it hopes to reinstate a stay before the August 18 date when city clerks can begin issuing marriage licenses to all Californians. The heavily-trafficked Prop 8 Tracker Blog digests the 95-page piece of malarkey and decides that it's nothing Judge Walker didn’t hear from the anti-equality side during the trial.

A snippet:

It is thus imperative that a stay pending appeal be entered on or before August 18, 2010 at 5 p.m. to avoid the confusion and irreparable injury that would flow from the creation of a class of purported same-sex marriages. See, e.g., Advisory: If Judge Walker Says It’s OK to Get Married, GLTNN.com, ...

No amount of live-blogging yesterday could give us a real feel for the emotion and humanity brought forth in the courtroom during the final arguments in the federal Prop 8 trial. Instead, this wrap-up from NCLR's Kate Kendell bottles the mood of the day in an easy to digest video blog. It sounds like it went very well -- very well as in a good day for equality and love to triumph over hate...

(Via JoeMyGod & Towleroad)

NOM's favorite no-shoe-wearing gal took to the organization's website Wednesday night following court with the following statement:

"Chuck Cooper is a heckuva lawyer. At stake in this case is the future of marriage in all 50 states, and he's right that this attempt to shut down the debate by constitutionalizing gay marriage will backfire. Americans have a right to vote for marriage. Ted Olson doesn't seem to understand the argument, and judging from today's exchanges neither does Judge Walker. I expect Judge Walker will overrule Prop 8. But millions of Americans do understand why marriage is the union of husband and wife and I believe the majority of the Supreme Court will as well."

—Maggie Gallagher

Last week Judge Vaughn Walker issued 39 questions to those involved in the federal Prop 8 trial, and today the Olson/Boies team has responded with the answers it hopes will repeal Prop 8 and let equality reign (until the likely appeals come).

Some excerpts from the plaintiffs' answers include:

“Neither tradition nor moral disapproval is a sufficient basis for a State to impair a person’s constitutionally protected right to marry. “Tradition alone is not enough because the constitutional imperatives of the Equal Protection clause must have priority over the comfortable convenience of the status quo.”

“If a state constitutional provision is inconsistent with the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it can no longer be ...

Update:

We have no idea whether the report is true or not. But we do know one really big important fact about Judge Walker: He’s been an amazingly biased and one-sided force throughout this trial, far more akin to an activist than a neutral referee. That’s no secret at all.

Protect Marriage, the defendants in this case are effectively being held hostage by Judge Walker and cannot really comment.

Walker has presided over a show trial designed to generate sympathetic headlines and news coverage for gay marriage supporters. Witness after witness was allowed ...

Once lawyers concluded their opening statements, one of the plaintiffs, Jeff Zarrillo, took the stand and gave emotional testimony over the frustrations that he and his partner, Paul Katami, can not marry. Jeff reportedly told the court that a domestic partnership is simply not equal to marriage, such as the one his own brother has to his wife.

"He is the love of my life. I love him probably more than I love myself. I would do anything for him," Jeff said. News outlets are reporting that Jeff went on to say that others would view his and Paul's relationship of nine years differently if they were married. "It says to them, 'These individuals are serious, these individuals are committed to each other," he testified.

Surprisingly, after...

Update:

If you would like to read today’s opening statement in full, as prepared by Ted Olson, the Equal Rights Foundation has set up a link here.

Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, or more commonly referred to as the Prop. 8 trial, has gotten underway today in San Francisco. And although a last-minute decision thwarted the planned Internet delay broadcast, here is what the L.A. Times is reporting went on during opening statements:

Theodore Olson, an attorney for the two same-sex couples challenging Proposition 8, told the court that marriage was "central to life in America," calling it “the building block of family, neighborhood and community in our society."

Opposing council Charles Cooper, however, called same-sex marriage an “experiment,”...