http://www.scribd.com/doc/35374462/Prop-8-Ruling-FINAL
I was concerned about how this would read given the suspicion that the judge is himself gay (messy, but should all 9 SCOTUS judges recuse themselves in matters of religious freedom?). However, it's pretty straightforward.
The Prop 8 supporters called TWO witnesses ONLY; one (the source of most of their testimony) did not possess the required credentials as a witness and agreed with Prop 8 plaintiffs that we would be "more american" the day after we allowed gay marriage than the day before. He presented no evidence that same sex marriage would endanger children, harm the state, or threaten regular marriage. He presented only opinions as to what marriage represented and even this was inconsistent. Their other witness could speak only to some narrow issues, claimed that initiatives like Prop 8 undermine democracy, and admitted proponents had supplied most of his sources and he hadn't even read many of them. Both agreed that marriage would benefit the gay families and their chidlren. Other witnesses bowed out fearing for their personal safety (?!)*
It was also established that marriage is an evolving entity, has always been a civil matter, not a religious one, and that votes for Prop 8 broke down on religious grounds, and the Prop 8 organizational effort was largely religious group's work.
In other words, no secular purpose. The ruling makes it clear that the voters are entitled to a lot of latitude with their motions, but limitations exist, namely, there has to be SOME plausible link (not just dislike of a group) between a discriminatory law and a legitimate state objective, and no data was presented whatsoever that would have guided the judge to find that Prop 8 protected marriage, kids, the economy or anything else.
In reviewing the ruling, I became quite suspicious that the Prop 8 supporters were throwing the case. Or utterly incompetent. Maybe they wanted the case shot into the spotlight, but I can't understand how this would be any different if they'd won; it would still have been appealed.
Responses of the "I READ THE RULING AND FOUND X INTERESTING" type vastly preferred to those of the "I DIDN'T READ THE RULING BUT I HAVE AN UNFOUNDED PERSONAL OPINION" type, ya dig? This is about evidentiary standards and whether the Prop 8 defenders established their case.
*As someone who's been assaulted by a gang in a hate crime and never heard of a hate crime against someone for being straight, I find this a bit of a reach.