Milk screenwriter and "8" playwright Dustin Lance Black and Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about Hollywood's impact on the Supreme Court's June 26th decision to overturn DOMA and Proposition 8. Click below to hear what they had to say!
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court declared that legislation which says marriage must be between a man and a woman is unconstitutional, thus allowing homosexual couples to receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples. The Court also struck down California's Proposition 8. The decision comes after the Court held hearings about the legality of the state's gay marriage ban in March. The decision will now allow gay marriage to resume in California, however it does not legalize it in other states.
Black's play "8" has been staged across the country since its Broadway premiere in 2011 directed by Joe Mantello and starring Morgan Freeman, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner, Matt Bomer, Anthony Edwards and more.
A play chronicling the historic trial in the federal legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, the production is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case filed by AFER to overturn Prop. 8, which eliminated the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California. Black based "8" on the actual words of the trial transcripts, first-hand observations of the courtroom drama and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families.
Griffin began his work in politics with Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, followed by a stint in the White House Press Office and subsequent political campaigns and fundraising efforts for candidates such as Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Griffin founded AFER in 2008, and was appointed president of the Human Rights Campaign in 2012.
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