Perry v. Schwarzenegger - Hak-Shing William “Bill” Tam Testifies

Hak-Shing William “Bill” Tam, one of the five proponents of Proposition 8 who tried to drop out of the case, was called as a hostile witness by the plaintiffs yesterday. His testimony confirmed that he holds extremely anti-gay animus and he repeated a number of the deliberate lies so well loved by the Christianists, including the myth that gays can change their sexual orientation. Not surprisingly, he cited Christianist financed NARTH as the authority for that lie. He even admitted that he had never bothered to check on the APA's position on the unchangeable of sexual orientation. Much of the defense seems to rely on religious belief as if that justifies discrimination against others who do not hold the same religious beliefs. I'm sorry, but freedom of religion is a two way street and Christianists do NOT have the right to force their beliefs on others. Here are highlights of Tam's testimony via the Courage Campaign:
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For those of you not able to make it into the courtroom, I think that the William Tam testimony just might be the highlight of the Prop 8 Trial Renactment Series. . . from just the plain language, it is hard to argue that what Tam said was anything but some of the most salacious and offbase anti-gay propaganda that I’ve seen outside of the Klan or other similar hate groups. And Boies just shreds whatever logic or reasonable basis that Tam had for his statements:
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Boies: You said that you thought Prop. 8 would lead to legalizing prostitution. Why?
Tam: Measure K in SF. I saw some homosexuals hanging around there.
B: You know that Measure K has nothing to do with Prop. 8.
T: Yes.
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Prop K had nothing, whatsoever, to do with the LGBT community or Prop 8, and Tam acknowledges that. By the way, Prop K lost by a wide margin, even in a city that Tam said was “controlled by homosexuals.” But that line in the gay agenda that Tam thrusts upon the community pales in comparison to the offensive claim that tops off Tam’s flyer.
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B: You told people that next will be legalizing sex with children. That’s the homosexual agenda. Do you believe this?
T: Yes.
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But, of course, the problem with Tam is his rejection of logic. He uses innuendo and vague emotional statements about the welfare of children, and then depends on the website of NARTH, an ex-gay group condemned by mainstream mental health professionals, over accredited, peer-reviewed scientific studies from real professionals. This has nothing to do with what is going on in the real world, but what is going on in a few small minds.