No video on gay marriage trial, filmmakers use transcripts, actors to re-enact for Internet

Calif.’s gay marriage trial re-enacted, on Youtube

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Supreme Court may have stopped broadcasts of California’s same-sex marriage trial, but that has not prevented filmmakers from re-enacting it for the Internet.

Two Los Angeles-based filmmakers have used transcripts, bloggers in the courtroom and professional actors to help recreate the trial. The first of 12 episodes — each covering a day of the trial — appeared on YouTube on Monday.

Filmmaker John Ireland says the goal was to allow Americans to judge the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which restricted marriage to a man and a woman. Ireland and fellow filmmaker John Ainsworth oppose the ban.

The Supreme Court last month blocked a plan to have testimony in the trial uploaded to YouTube, saying it could subject supporters of Proposition 8 to harassment.

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfgate.com/chronicle