Stanford University Professor Gary Segura, a national political scientist testifying on behalf of supporters of same-sex marriage said Wednesday that gays and lesbians have little political power and can’t count on most of their friends in high places, including Governor’s or U.S. President Obama.

At a federal court trial in San Francisco on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, Segura cited ballot measures, state and federal laws, hate crime statistics and opinion polls as evidence that gays and lesbians, like racial minorities, need judicial protection from discrimination.

“Gays and lesbians do not possess a meaningful degree of political power. They are not able to protect their essential interests,” said Segura, who heads the university’s Chicano studies program and co-directs its Center on American Democracy.

Political power, a disputed issue in the case, is a factor judges consider in weighing laws that treat groups of people differently and deciding whether they violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.

Segura’s testimony was a slap in the face to the Human Rights Campaign (the self described largest LGBT organization in the U.S.), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Freedom to Marry, the national Equality Federation, Equality California, Marriage Equality USA, and all other state and federal gay rights organizations.

U.S. President Obama Criticized During Federal Trial

But Segura said U.S. President Obama has done nothing to overturn laws denying federal benefits to same-sex couples and allowing the military to discharge openly gay service members.

He also cited the Obama administration’s refusal to allow a female attorney with the federal appeals court in San Francisco, Karen Golinski, to cover her wife in her health insurance policy, despite an order from the court’s chief judge.

The administration said that the order wasn’t binding and that granting the benefits would violate federal law.

Golinski filed suit Wednesday, noting Obama’s “promise of positive change for lesbian and gay Americans.”

“This is not a reliable ally,” Segura said of Obama. “We have to look at the disconnect between rhetoric and action.”

FBI statistics also show that hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation have increased, Segura said – from 14 percent of all reported hate crimes in 2005 to 17.7 percent in 2008.  (previous story)

Federal Government Acts Beyond Its Constitutional Authority

The constitutionality of the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act is also being brought into question with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the first to legalize gay marriage, suing the federal government for violating states’ rights in violation of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Lawmakers in Alaska, California, Kentucky, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, are only some of the states that have enacted legislation condemning federal laws over the past five years and prohibit the state or its subdivisions from enforcing federal laws.  In addition, more than 400 cities have passed local ordinances prohibiting the enforcement of federal laws, including the city of Lexington, KY according to the National Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

A proponent of California’s same-sex marriage ban who warned that gay rights activists would try to legalize sex with children if Proposition 8 did not pass is expected to be called as a hostile witness Thursday for two same-sex couples suing to overturn the measure.

Lawyers for the couples said they planned to call San Francisco resident Hak-Shing William Tam to testify even though he has asked to be dismissed as a defendant in the case, the first in a federal court to examine if state bans on same-sex marriage illegally discriminate against gay Americans.

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