SAN FRANCISCO – A proponent of California's same-sex marriage ban warned voters in a letter during the 2008 campaign that gay rights activists would try to legalize sex with children if same-sex couples had the right to wed, according to evidence presented Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the measure. San Francisco resident Hak-Shing William Tam, a defendant in the lawsuit, discussed the letter to Chinese-Americans church groups during a legal deposition taped last month.
Tam wrote that legalizing same-sex marriage was part of a broader gay agenda.
"On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children," states the letter, which also cautioned that "other states would fall into Satan's hands" if gays weren't stopped from marrying in California.
Lawyers for two same-sex couples introduced the footage to buttress their contention that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional because it was fueled by deep-seated animosity against gays.
During his deposition, Tam explained that he based his views on personal experience and a Web site that described a 1972 meeting of gay rights activists.
"My daughter told me her classmates chose to become lesbians and experiment with it after they noticed that same-sex marriage, they think it is a cool thing," Tam said. "They have some problem getting dates with boys, so same-sex marriage, since it is in the air, they think, 'Oh, why not try girls.'"
Tam last week asked the judge hearing the case to remove him as a defendant because he feared the trial would generate publicity that could endanger him and his family.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker has not yet ruled on the request.
David Thompson, a lawyer for Proposition 8 backers, told Walker that despite Tam's official role as a sponsor of the measure, Tam had nothing to do with the campaign and "is attempting to withdraw to avoid precisely this kind of focus on his individual views."
