thank you, ms. perry. (applause) >> our speaker this morning, the former secretary of defense william perry, i first met when he was the deputy secretary of defense, and he and mrs. perry came to korea where i was the c5j5 and i was assigned to escort them around. and i had a lot of those kinds of duties while i was assigned to korea. but it was the most pleasant experience i had and i say that honestly, to get to know these two people. and he then became our secretary of defense. and many of us that have served thought that he was one of the best secretary of defenses we've ever had. he's currently a senior fellow at the hoover institute and a freeman foley institute of international studies. he is the michael and barbara bavarian professor at stanford university and serves as co-director of the nuclear risk reduction initiative and preventive defense project. please help me welcome our speaker this morning, former secretary of defense william perry. (applause) >> what a pleasure it is to be aboard this sy

so the issue before the court in this case, which is whether ms. perry marry her partner of 16 years with whom she shares a child. and whether she and other same-sex couples will be treated equally under the law as opposite-sex couples really relates to fundamental notions about equality. and liberty. ifill: arwe talkng about unchartered waters as the justices saying? >> they are exactly unchartered waters as justice kennedy remarked today. it really goes to the newness of the debate we're having in this country over marriage, its meaning, its importance to our society and children. same-sex marriage is a very new concept. newer, as justice alito said, than internet or cell phones. and so it really highlights the role of the court. the supreme court is not a legislature. it's not designed to be a legislature. justices have expressed reservations about theapaty theourt to answer this difficult question over this very important debate. that's why we have ballot boxes. that's why we have legislatures: to deal with these important issues so we can have the d

hollingsworth has no direct stake and his life will be impacted in no way by ms. perry able to marry her partner, with whom she has a child. we make the very obvious point, if you have nothing in at stake in the outcome of this, you need to sit down. the other piece, when we look at the impact to so many people, we are talking about an issue that is a fundamental right. the united states supreme court, since the 1880s, rachel, 14 times, has described meaning as a fundamental right. we can have a conversation about freedom to marry, but we really also must have this conversation about deprivation of fundamental rights and what will we as a society do about that? i'm troubled by the conversation that suggests we should wait. we should not wait when people are being deprived of their fundamental rights. we could not wait when the lovings wanted to get married in virginia. there has to be something about a civil society that says we're not going to wait for the minority to be comfortable by the majority. rights to liberty, freedom and equality. >> when you look back at that

windsor, ms. perryallowed to have equal protection under the laws like any americans. >> she last month kamala harris filed a brief saying prop 8 is unconstitutional and the initiative sponsors don't have the right to claim they represent the interest of california. stay with us for continuing coverage. ktvu david stevenson will have live reports for us from washington beginning tomorrow and those will go on through tuesday's oral arguments. and join us for a special on tuesday night. we go in-depth on that prop 8 case. >>> a high school in portland has become one of the first in the face to have june sex bathrooms for transgender students. the high school generated four restrooms, four for students and two for staff. going into a men and womens restroom became so uncomfortable he stopped drinking during the day so he wouldn't have to go. >> i have gotten really weird looks in the women's restroom. it's not comfortable. and in the mens restroom as well. although i just don't feel safe in the men's restr

because, of course, allowing ms. perryreal way. >> not that long ago, your state voted to make gay marriage illegal. what would you say to the millions and millions of californians who don't want the law of the land to be the same-sex marriages legal in california. what would you say to that? >> first of all, that was five years ago that prop 8 was voted by 52% of californians. today and i think that's mark who asked the question, today 61% of californians are in favor of same-sex marriage and the bottom line is that this is about a fundamental right. since the 1880s, the united states supreme court 14 times has described marriage as a fundamental right. and so this really is about notions of fundamental freedom and equality and liberty. and for that reason, prop 8 should not be upheld because it is clearly unconstitutional. >> joe klein. >> i'd like to ask you a political question. out there in california, how were republicans feeling about this? would they rather see this whole case go away or do you think that the repub