From AC360 Nov. 12, 2008: Anderson Cooper brings on Dan Savage and Tony Perkins to debate Proposition 8 and the protests against it. Savage makes Perkins look like the hapless James Dobson mouthpiece he is.

I'm sorry. This is all about civil liberties in my book. It's all about freedom, something the right-wingers trumpet to the media whenever it suits them. Why are they so afraid of gay marriage?

DAN SAVAGE: Part of the democratic process is if you're going to throw a punch you're going to have a punch thrown back. You don't get to march in the public square, slime people, malign people and demagogue against people and then jump behind a bush and say, no God we're a church. You can't criticize us. You can't bring it back to our frond doors and say we have a problem with what you've been saying about us in public and doing to us in the public square.

The Mormon Church has politicized itself with this movement and -- in California to ban same-sex marriage. And it wasn't just the Mormon Church encouraged its followers. The first prophet of the Mormon Church had a letter read from every temple, every Mormon temple in the land instructing its members as a religious duty to donate time and money to this campaign. You cannot campaign against the vulnerable minority group in this country in the political arena without expecting some sort of response

Full transcript from CNN below:

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Last night on the "The Report," Stephen Colbert hosted Family Research Council President Tony Perkins to discuss the recent landmark court ruling in California legalizing same sex marriages, and ended up catching the "family values" crusader in some serious contradictions in the way only Colbert can.

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"I think it would really be much better for the anti-gay-marriage side if they obeyed everything in the Bible, not just the anti-gay-marriage part. Don't you?"

Californians apparently agree:  

A majority of registered Californian voters oppose changing the constitution of the most populous U.S. state to bar gays from marrying, according to poll released on Wednesday.

The Field Poll survey found 51 percent against approving a possible November ballot measure to prohibit gay marriage, with 43 percent in favor. A slightly differently worded question on the same issue found 54 percent opposed and 40 percent in favor.

Markos has some of the historical data showing how far Californians have come in just the past 30 years, as well as the age breakdown that bodes very well for the future of ensuring our gay brothers and sisters receive equal treatment under the law:

Approve Disapprove
5/2008 51 42
2006 44 50
2004 44 50
2003 42 50
1997 38 56
1985 30 62
1977 28 59

In other promising news, the AP is reporting that California will start issuing same-sex marriage licenses on June 14. Expect the wingnuts to fight this tooth and nail, but it's good news nonetheless:

Same-sex couples in some California counties will be able to marry as soon as June 14, the president of the California’s county clerks association said.