The Letter Perry Defendant William Tam Doesn't Want You To See

The afternoon before the Prop 8 trial was set to begin, defendant Hak-Shing William (Bill) Tam requested that presiding Judge Walker remove him from the list of defendants. From Mercury News:

Hak-Shing William Tam was one of the five official sponsors of Proposition 8 who formally “intervened” in a federal lawsuit challenging the voter-approved ban. The lawsuit officially names the state as the defendant, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have refused to defend the voter-approved ban.

On Friday, Tam told U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that he fears for his and his family’s safety. In his court filing, Tam’s lawyers say the trial will bring him unwanted publicity and expose him to retribution from gay marriage supporters.

Tam also says the case has been more time-consuming and more intrusive into his personal life than expected.

Others have looked at the “fears for his safety” part. Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin looked at Tam’s claims on Saturday:

[Tam] listed his reasons as being due to his fears of recognition and reprisals. He claimed that his life, and that of his family, could be in danger.

As evidence, he submitted examples of threats against him during the campaign including vandalism (his car’s tire was punctured while parked on the street without a Prop 8 bumper sticker but in front of a house with a yard sign), theft (some girl tried to steal his yard sign but ran away), death threats (someone left a vulgar comment on a YouTube video which Tam claims to “take very seriously”) and racism (other vulgar comments on his YouTube video).

However, his concerns about being recognized didn’t seem to have dissuaded Bill Tam from giving interviews and making videos and participating in debates during the campaign. And the worrisome issues didn’t give him enough concern to keep him from petitioning the court in May 2009 to be added as a defendant. And Tam provides no instances since May in which anyone recognizing him has been anything other than “friendly”.

Obviously people shouldn’t threaten the man with harm. On the other hand, YouTube comments are always over the cliff, and as Timothy pointed out Tam was clearly unconcerned with the exposure before the Prop 8 vote in November 2008, and before May 2009 when he petitioned the judge to add him to the defendant list.

This fear for his life business is a smokescreen, a nice bit of fiction that Maggie Gallagher and other anti-gay leaders can sell to their followers.

So what’s the real story? Skipping ahead in Tam’s motion to withdraw:

The third reason I want to withdraw as a defendant-Intervenor is because, I am tired and I want peace. I want peace to carry on my ministry and I don’t want to be indefinitely tied down with this case. The case will likely go through the trial level, appeals level and possibly the Supreme Court. This could take several years and I do not want to be tied down for that period. I have work to do with my ministry and this case is interfering with that work.

Mr. Tam, we don’t want to be tied down with this case either, but you’re the ones who set this discrimination in motion. You get to deal with the consequences just like the rest of us. Frankly, if I could I’d trade burdens with you I’d do it in a heartbeat.

But the most interesting complaint in Tam’s motion is one this one. This is what Bill Tam is really afraid of.

A second reason that I want to withdraw as a Defendant-Intervenor is that I do not like the burden of complying with discovery requests. I do not like people questioning me on my private personal beliefs. I do not like people questioning me regarding fourteen year old articles I wrote in the Chinese language to my constituents. I don’t like people focusing on a few articles I posted on my website regarding homosexuality and disregarding the 50 or 60 other articles I posted regarding family values subjects. I do not like the exposure of my history to people who are antagonistic to me. In short, I do not like the burden of discovery and the privacy invasion associated with being a Defendant-Intervenor.

Poor guy. People are invading his privacy and judging him. He’d never do a thing like that, no sir.

One of these articles that Tam is fretting over was added to the official record by the plaintiffs. Most people have only seen the few lines pulled out in a footnote, but I decided to look it up and see the quotes in context. Below is a copy of the September 2008 letter taken from the “Presence Ministry” website, followed by the full text.

(emphasis added)

What if We Lose

Dear friends,

This November, San Francisco voters will vote on a ballot to “legalize prostitution”. This is put forth by the SF city government, which is under the rule of homosexuals. They lose no time in pushing the gay agenda — after legalizing same-sex marriage, they want to legalize prostitution. What will be next? On their agenda list is: legalize having sex with children.

I hope we all wake up now and really work to pass Prop 8. We have only 48 days left. Even if you have church building projects, mission projects, concert projects, etc, please consider postponing them and put all the church man/woman power to work on Prop 8. We can’t lose this critical battle. If we lose, this will very likely happen……

1. Same-Sex marriage will be a permanent law in California. One by one, other states would fall into Satan’s hand.
2. Every child, when growing up, would fantasize marrying someone of the same sex. More children would become homosexuals. Even if our children is safe, our grandchildren may not. What about our children’s grandchildren?
3. Gay activists would target the big churches and request to be married by their pastors. If the church refuse, they would sue the church. Even if they know they may not win, they would still sue because they have a big army of lawyers from ACLU who would work for free. They know a prolonged law suit would cripple the church. They had sued the California government many times before. They sue until they win. They would not be afraid to sue a church. The church would have to spend lots of money in defending the case. The court fight would be long and the congregation would be discouraged and leave — how long are they willing to shoulder the law suit costs. The church may give in and accept them, their membership would grow and take over the church. Then a righteous pastor would have to leave. Such scenarios have happened in Scandinavian countries. At that time, churches would keep quiet, hoping that they won’t be picked as the next target. If your church is sued, don’t expect others to help your church. You would be in the battle alone, and chances are you would lose. If that happens, whatever nice building your church have built now would become meaningless.

In order not to let this happen, we better team up at the current battle to defeat same-sex marriage. Collectively, we have a chance to win. Right now, each church sacrifice a little. For 48 days, delay your projects, put your resources ($ and manpower) into Prop 8. We’d have great power if we pool our resources together. Let’s win this battle. After victory, your congregation would be energized and go back to the original projects with joy and cheer. They may want to give more and build a bigger building to thank God. Our God would be pleased and bless us more.

But if we lose, our congregation would lose heart. They might not want to work as hard. Our opponents would be overjoyed. They would do more and change more laws so as to persecute us easier. Churchs would have a much much harder time to survive. We would be collecting offerings to fight law suits instead of building new buildings. I pray that day would not come. The choice is yours. Talk to the leaders of your church. Your actions would change the history in either direction.

Thanks for your efforts,

Bill Tam
Traditional Family Coalition

Don’t like LGBT people? I’m okay with that.

Uneasy about social change on the horizon? Fine.

Don’t want us to get religiously married? I’ll even give you a pass there.

But Bill Tam stepped way over the line with this public letter, proving David Boies and Ted Olson’s point that the Prop 8 campaign was based on fear-mongering and anti-gay animus.

His motion denied, Bill Tam is expected to take the stand this Friday. Assuming the Supreme Court allows the delayed broadcast of the trial to go on as planned, you can expect to see that deposition and his taped deposition played in court this afternoon on YouTube.