Brad Pitt, George Clooney Perform in Prop 8 Play
Actors Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Martin Sheen and Kevin Bacon performed a reading of the play "8" in Los Angeles' Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday.
The play, written by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, is an account of the 2010 federal trial that eventually led to a ruling which overturned California's Proposition 8, which established that only marriage between a man and a woman was valid or recognized in the state.
The play also streamed live on YouTube.
Black, who is also a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, said in a statement released by the organization that the play serves as a way for people to witness what happened in the Proposition 8 trial.
"People need to witness what happened in the Proposition 8 trial, if for no other reason than to see inequality and discrimination unequivocally rejected in a court of law where truth and facts matter," said Black.
Pitt played Judge Vaughn R. Walker. Clooney, Sheen and Bacon had roles as attorneys. (See Pictures Below.) Jamie Lee Curtis and George Takei were also among the cast members.
The reading is serving as a fundraiser for the AFER, the sole sponsor of the challenge to California's Proposition 8.
While the play covers the events which took place during the initial trial, the fight over the fate of Proposition 8 has continued.
In early February, a three judge panel of U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling striking down the law. Proposition 8 backers asked the entire 9th Circuit on Feb. 21 to review the smaller panel's decision, which declared that the proposition violated the civil rights of gays and lesbians in California.
"This gives the entire Ninth Circuit a chance to correct this anomalous decision by just two judges overturning the vote of seven million Californians," said Andy Pugno, general counsel for Proposition 8 backers.
