SCRIPT #9

ILAN MEYER: “EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (BUT WERE
AFRAID TO ASK)” (PLAINTIFFS' EXPERT)
Testimony as given in U.S. District Court on January 14, 2010

Speaking:
ILAN H. MEYER
CHRISTOPHER DUSSEAULT

Props needed:
DOCUMENTS BOUND TOGETHER THAT SERVE AS EVIDENCE.
 reenactment Instructions
Thank you for downloading a Testimony script and taking your first step toward reen-
acting an excerpt from Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal Prop. 8 trial.


Here’s the deal • Consider the best place and time to do your reenactment.
If you want to draw a crowd, where would be the best place?
• The goal of Testimony is to raise awareness about what
happened at the federal Prop 8 trial and spread the word • Do you know someone who works for local media, such as
to as many people as possible across America. Through a school paper or a TV station? Give them a heads up and
live trial reenactments or forwarding a reenactment video invite them to show up for the filming.
to a friend, anyone can participate.

• Each of these scripts is taken directly from the trial Go do it!

transcript of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case argued in
U.S. District Court over the constitutionality of Prop. 8, • Grab your scripts, actors, clapboard, camcorder/iPhone/
which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry flipcam, and camera guy/gal and head out to your loca-
in California in 2008. Some of these scripts are from the tion. Pay attention to things like camera glare, and make
plaintiffs testifying, while others are from expert witness- sure the camera is picking up the sound.
es called by either the plaintiffs or the defense.
• Make sure the first shot is of the clapboard, just like a
• Your job is to recreate them in your own unique way. Be real movie shoot.
creative. Do some guerrilla theater. Act it out in the town
square. Or just gather some friends and your iPhone or
flip camera and shoot it in your living room. There is no Have fun!
wrong way to do a reenactment.
• Share it with the world

Ready to get started? • Go to www.equalityontrial.com/upload and upload your

reenactment.
• Read over the script and figure out how many people you
will need to reenact a particular section of the trial. • Note that you can upload only in .AVI, .MOV, .WMV, and
.MPG file formats, and the files can’t be larger than 20GB.
• Some scripts need more actors than others, but you can
reduce the number of people needed, by designating one • It will take a few minutes for the video to upload and
person off-camera to read several minor roles. Or go for process, so be patient. Once the video is ready, it will
the whole enchilada, complete with clerks and defense redirect you to a page where you can share the links via
attorneys shouting out objections, à la Law and Order. e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. If you have a website, grab
the embedded code to post it.
• And of course you will need someone to videotape it.
• Promote it to everyone you know, and ask your friends to do
• Make sure you gather in advance all of the props you will the same — especially the friends who helped you make
need — for ideas, check out the list on the next page. the video. Send it to all of your friends and family members.
Don’t forget to fill out the clapboard (use a thick black Post it to your Facebook profile. Tweet it again and again.
marker!!) and bring it to the shoot.
• If you had a lot of fun and want to do it again, there are
• Once you’ve got all of your actors and props, be sure to many more scripts to choose from. Go for it!
run through your script at least once before filming. Don’t
worry — you don’t need to memorize it.
 

TO BE READ ALOUD:
Hear ye, hear ye! The following scene is a re-enactment of Perry v.
Schwarzenegger, the Prop 8 trial heard in U.S. District Court. Dr. Ilan
Meyer, expert witness for the plaintiffs on the stigma and prejudice gays
and lesbians face in society, is under direct-examination by the
plaintiffs’ lawyer, Christopher Dusseault. The plaintiffs in this case are
two loving same-sex couples who simply want to marry, just as any
heterosexual couple in America has the right to do.

Court is now in session!

CHRISTOPHER DUSSEAULT, PLAINTIFFS’ ATTORNEY:

What is Exhibit 1011?

ILAN MEYER, PLAINTIFFS’ EXPERT ON STIGMA AND PREJUDICE GAY AND LESBIAN
INDIVIDUALS FACE IN SOCIETY:
This is a chapter from a book that I've relied on and that I've used in
teaching as an example of -- maybe I should say what the book is.

So, this is a chapter from a book that was published in the 60’s, late
60’s, and was a very popular book.

It was called, "Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were
Afraid to Ask)."

It was very, very popular. It was published in many -- I have a hardcover

edition that is the 17th edition of this book, that was published in 1969.
And I personally remember that book.

So in this book there are different chapters that aim to educate the
public about different issues concerning sexuality. And this particular
chapter is concerning male homosexuality.

DUSSEAULT:
And this is a book that had wide distribution?

MEYER:
Absolutely.

DUSSEAULT:
Could we put up demonstrative 2, please.

(Document displayed)

DUSSEAULT:
I'm going to ask you about this, but what I would like to do is just read
the text into the record so it's clear what you're addressing.

 
 
 

MEYER:
May I explain something about this?

DUSSEAULT:
Of course.

MEYER:
I'm sorry. So the book is written in a question-and-answer format.
And, basically, the author goes through explaining sexual issues as if
there is a question that somebody is asking him about his opinion about
various sexual issues, and then he provides the answer. So this is an
excerpt of one of those question and answers.

DUSSEAULT:
Okay.

So the question posed is:

"What about all the homosexuals who live together happily for years?"

And the answer is:

"What about them?

They are mighty rare birds among the homosexual flock.

Moreover, the 'happy' part remains to be seen.

The bitterest argument between husband and wife is a passionate love
sonnet by comparison with a dialogue between a butch and his queen. Live
together? Yes. Happily? Hardly."

Is this text from this book an example of the stigma that you're talking
about, sir?

MEYER:
Yes, I think this is a very dramatic experience of what I was referring to
where, in this case, an educational book portrays the relationship
between, in this case, gay men
as -- with great disrespect. I would say ridicule and contempt. So that
was the kind of -- and one example of what I was referring to.

DUSSEAULT:
At what stage in life does stigma begin to affect gay men and lesbians?

MEYER:
Stigma really affects all people in society, because it is a social norm,
if you will. It is something that we all in society learn from a very
young age. It affects gay and lesbian -- this particular stigma affects
gay and lesbian -- sorry, gay men and lesbians in a particular way because

 
 
 

it is about something that is very pertinent to how they think about who
they are.

In my mind, this kind of stigma on other stereotypes are very impactful,

especially at the younger age, and in particular in the time of life where
gay men and lesbians, usually during youth, either realize or recognize or
know that they're gay, and begin to try to understand what that means to
them.

And, of course, the most available reference that they would have is the
kind of things that they have learned over their lifetime, over their
childhood -- socialization that we all have been exposed to.

So it affects everybody but, certainly, it affects in a very strong way

somebody who is maybe coming out and realizing that he or she is gay, and
that's what they might believe is what is in line for them.

 
 
 engagement Instructions
A successful reenactment will have an audience — “witnesses” to the trial reenactment. In or-
der to have a successful reenactment and turn out a large number of witnesses, you need to set
a goal. After the reenactment, make sure to get signatures of the witnesses, this will all become
part of the story of the trial. Also please be sure to complete the enclosed form so we can grow the
movement. Each trial should set a minimum goal of signatures from 50 witnesses.

TESTIMONY Community Engagement Tips 2. MAKE A SCENE

As Testimony actors, your mission is to bring this trial – this We’ve given you a script, but it’s your job make sure people
conversation – to your community, identifying supporters of listen. Be creative. Make a scene. Here are a few ideas:
equality along the way. Here are a few things to think about
as you begin to plan your reenactments. • Invite a local choir to open up your performance to grab
the audience’s attention.

1. SET GOALS • Pick out key quotes from the Testimony and paint them
on large posters for all to see.
Just because it’s guerrilla theater does not mean that it’s
poorly planned. We are all actors with purpose. To help your • Grab noisemakers, bells, borrow a friend’s old bullhorn –
production team accomplish your mission, set a few com- don’t be afraid to be heard.
munity engagement goals prior to your reenactment:

• Ask your team to set witness signature goals. Commit to 3. THROW A PARTY!
gathering 50 WITNESS SIGNATURES from your com-
munity – signatures of people who watched your reen- Build community through these reenactments by inviting
actment and agree that Equality should never be put on the production team and witnesses to a potluck or house
trial. Download and print out the WITNESS SIGNATURE party. Here are a few ideas:
PLEDGE form and after each reenactment engage mem- • Host a viewing party;
bers of the audience and ask them to sign the petition in
support of equality. Follow the instructions on the bottom • Have a conversation about equality;
of the form to send your WITNESS SIGNATURES back to
Courage Campaign, so that we can make sure to send a • Talk about what else you can do together to make sure
follow-up message to the witnesses in your community. that this trial lives on;

• Don’t make this a one-time production. Once you’ve put to- • Find out about the next phase of this historic campaign.
gether a production team and scouted a location, it’s easy
to do these reenactments again and again. Consider asking • Have questions? Contact us at
your team to do multiple reenactments each time you go [email protected].
out. Set a goal for your team, i.e. “we will keep doing reen-
actments until we collect 20 WITNESS SIGNATURES.”

• Videotape WITNESS REACTIONS after your reenactment.

 TESTIMONY
EQUALITYONTRIAL
POWERED BY COURAGE CAMPAIGN EQUALITY
I, the undersigned, WITNESSED a reenactment of Perry v Schwarzenegger, the Prop 8 trial on _____________ (date) at _________________________(location).
I, hereby, swear that I believe in Equality for all Americans, regardless of national origin, race, gender or sexual orientation.
PLEASE PRINT LEGIBLY:
NAME ZIP CODE EMAIL PHONE TESTIFY? VOLUNTEER?
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
YES YES
NOTE: The Courage Campaign Institute may contact you for other Equality Program-related actions.
SCAN & EMAIL FORM TO: [email protected] • FAX FORM TO: 323-969-0157
MAIL FORM TO: 7119 West Sunset Boulevard, No. 195, Los Angeles, California, 90046
sticker sheet