SCRIPT #10

GREGORY HEREK: DO PEOPLE CHOOSE THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION?

(PLAINTIFFS' EXPERT)
Testimony as given in U.S. District Court on January 22, 2010

Speaking:
GREGORY M. HEREK
ETHAN DETTMER

Props needed:
BINDER WITH A DOCUMENT SERVING AS EVIDENCE.

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
• The goal of Testimony is to raise awareness about what
happened at the federal Prop 8 trial and spread the word
to as many people as possible across America. Through
live trial reenactments or forwarding a reenactment video
to a friend, anyone can participate.
• Each of these scripts is taken directly from the trial
transcript of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case argued in
U.S. District Court over the constitutionality of Prop. 8,
which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry
in California in 2008. Some of these scripts are from the
plaintiffs testifying, while others are from expert witness-
es called by either the plaintiffs or the defense.
• Your job is to recreate them in your own unique way. Be
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
wrong way to do a reenactment.
Ready to get started?
• Read over the script and figure out how many people you
will need to reenact a particular section of the trial.
• Some scripts need more actors than others, but you can
reduce the number of people needed, by designating one
person off-camera to read several minor roles. Or go for
the whole enchilada, complete with clerks and defense
attorneys shouting out objections, à la Law and Order.
• And of course you will need someone to videotape it.
• Make sure you gather in advance all of the props you will
need — for ideas, check out the list on the next page.
Don’t forget to fill out the clapboard (use a thick black
marker!!) and bring it to the shoot.
• Once you’ve got all of your actors and props, be sure to
run through your script at least once before filming. Don’t
worry — you don’t need to memorize it.
reenactment Instructions


• Consider the best place and time to do your reenactment.
If you want to draw a crowd, where would be the best place?
• Do you know someone who works for local media, such as
a school paper or a TV station? Give them a heads up and
invite them to show up for the filming.
Go do it!
• Grab your scripts, actors, clapboard, camcorder/iPhone/
flipcam, and camera guy/gal and head out to your loca-
tion. Pay attention to things like camera glare, and make
sure the camera is picking up the sound.
• Make sure the first shot is of the clapboard, just like a
real movie shoot.
Have fun!
• Share it with the world
• Go to www.equalityontrial.com/upload and upload your
reenactment.
• Note that you can upload only in .AVI, .MOV, .WMV, and
.MPG file formats, and the files can’t be larger than 20GB.
• It will take a few minutes for the video to upload and
process, so be patient. Once the video is ready, it will
redirect you to a page where you can share the links via
e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. If you have a website, grab
the embedded code to post it.
• Promote it to everyone you know, and ask your friends to do
the same — especially the friends who helped you make
the video. Send it to all of your friends and family members.
Post it to your Facebook profile. Tweet it again and again.
• If you had a lot of fun and want to do it again, there are
many more scripts to choose from. Go for 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. Gregory
M. Herek, professor of psychology at the University of California at
Davis, expert witness for the plaintiff on the nature of sexual
orientation, is under direct examination by the plaintiffs’ lawyer Ethan
Dettmer. 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!

ETHAN DETTMER, PLAINTIFFS’ ATTORNEY:

Moving to a slightly different topic, Professor Herek. Do people choose
their sexual orientation?

GREGORY HEREK, PH.D., PLAINTIFFS’ EXPERT ON THE NATURE OF SEXUAL

ORIENTATION:
Well, I've conducted research that -- in which I found that the vast
majority of lesbians and gay men, and most bisexuals as well, when asked
if they feel that they – how much choice they've had been their sexual
orientation, about being gay or lesbian or bisexual, say that they have
experienced no choice or very little choice about that.

DETTMER:
Are you familiar with the terms "reparative therapy" or "sexual-
orientation-change therapy"?

HEREK:
I am familiar with those terms.

DETTMER:
Can you explain what those terms mean?

HEREK:
Well, those are terms that are used to refer to various types of
interventions that are intended to alter a person's sexual orientation, to
change them from becoming homosexual into heterosexual.

DETTMER:
Have those types of therapies been found to be effective?

HEREK:
Uhm, well, before I answer that, it's -- it's useful, maybe, to say what
constitutes effectiveness or how we think about effectiveness.

When we use the word "effective" in connection with therapeutic

interventions, what we mean is -- excuse me, what we mean is that an

 
 
 

intervention or a therapy has been shown to consistently work, to

consistently produce the outcome that it's supposed to produce in the
population for which it is designed, and that it does so without causing
harm to the individuals involved.

And with those standards, no, various reparative therapies or sexual-

orientation-change therapies have not been found to be effective.

DETTMER:
Has the American Psychological Association taken a stand on these types of
therapies?

HEREK:
Yes, it has.

DETTMER:
And can you describe how it came to take a stand on those?

HEREK:
Well, these therapies have been around for a long time. And there's been a
great deal of discussion and debate about them

The APA has considered them a number of times. Most recently, it convened
a task force. I believe the task force was convened in 2008 or 2009. It
produced its report in 2009.

But this was a task force that was given the task of evaluating the
current status of these therapies, and to produce a report advising the
Association on their effectiveness, their safety, and -- and whether or
not they should be used.

DETTMER:
And what were the conclusions reached as a result of those studies?

HEREK:
Well, the -- the task force did a very thorough review of the research
literature, and, first of all, found that there were actually not very
many high-quality studies that had been conducted that could actually
speak to the effectiveness of these therapies.

But when one looks at the studies that are available and that have used
the methods of sufficient quality, what one finds is that they are of very
limited effectiveness and are also potentially associated with some harms
to individuals.

DETTMER:
If I could ask you to turn to Exhibit 888 in your first binder.

 
 
 

And, also, if we could have -- I'd like to publish a first demonstrative,

Your Honor.

(Document displayed)

Professor Herek, could you please tell the Court what Exhibit 888 is?

HEREK:
Well, this is the cover of the report from the task force that I just
mentioned.

DETTMER:
And 888 in your binder is -- can you describe what that is?

HEREK:
I'm sorry. It's the report of the American Psychological Association Task
Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. And,
yes, the entire report is here in the binder.

DETTMER:
Okay. If we could move to the next demonstrative, please. If you look on
pages 2 to 3 of Exhibit 888, do you find the conclusion here of -- of the
task force?

HEREK:
Yes.

DETTMER:
And do you mind reading that, please, into the record? It's also on your
screen there.

HEREK:
Okay. It's easier to read it from the screen.

"Enduring change to an individual's sexual orientation is uncommon. The

participants in this body of research continued to experience same-sex
attractions following SOCE" -- an acronym for sexual-orientation-change
efforts -- "and did not report significant change to other-sex attractions
that could be empirically validated, though some showed lessened
physiological arousal to all sexual stimuli. Compelling evidence of
decreased same-sex sexual behavior and of engagement in sexual behavior
with the other sex was rare. Few studies provided strong evidence that any
changes produced in laboratory conditions translated to daily life. Thus,
the results of scientifically valid research indicate that it is unlikely
that individuals will be able to reduce same-sex attractions or increase
other-sex sexual attractions through SOCE."

DETTMER:

 
 
 

Thank you. Are these conclusions consistent with your own opinion?

HEREK:
Yes.

DETTMER:
Do you know whether the task force made any conclusions with respect to
the safety of these types of therapies?

HEREK:
Well, the task force pointed out that just as there are problems with the
research on the effectiveness which make it difficult to say that there is
a cause-and-effect relationship between any changes that occurred in --
and the actual participation in the therapy, they also found that there
were many anecdotal reports of individuals who felt that they had
experienced harm related to these therapies.

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

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

• Ask your team to set witness signature goals. Commit to
gathering 50 WITNESS SIGNATURES from your com-
munity – signatures of people who watched your reen-
actment and agree that Equality should never be put on
trial. Download and print out the WITNESS SIGNATURE
PLEDGE form and after each reenactment engage mem-
bers of the audience and ask them to sign the petition in
support of equality. Follow the instructions on the bottom
of the form to send your WITNESS SIGNATURES back to
Courage Campaign, so that we can make sure to send a
follow-up message to the witnesses in your community.
3. THROW A PARTY!
Build community through these reenactments by inviting
the production team and witnesses to a potluck or house
party. Here are a few ideas:
• Host a viewing party;
• Have a conversation about equality;
• Talk about what else you can do together to make sure
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 engagement@equalityontrial.org.
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: pledge@couragecampaign.org • FAX FORM TO: 323-969-0157
MAIL FORM TO: 7119 West Sunset Boulevard, No. 195, Los Angeles, California, 90046
sticker sheet