According to a mock appellate court trial held in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium Wednesday, gay marriage is constitutional.

NIU Forensics organized the mock trial, which ran from 6 to 8 p.m., and simulated an appellate court proceeding based loosely on State of California v. Woo. Lancy Woo was a plaintiff who successfully challenged California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The mock trial was a simulation of arguments that might occur during the appeals process of California v. Woo.

Law professors Laurence Schlam and Adele Morrison and associate political science professor Brendan Swedlow served on a three-judge panel. They voted unanimously that same-sex marriages are constitutional.

Senior political science major Dan Walters argued for the state of California.

“It’s difficult because I’ve grown to support the other side politically,” Walters said.

Jennifer Calanca, a second-year political science graduate student, argued for Woo.

I think I had an easy task in that I believed in what I was arguing,” Calanca said.

Walters made several arguments, among them that same-sex marriages go against state interests such as procreation, child-rearing and morality.

Calanca argued same-sex marriages are protected under various constitutional amendments, among them the 14th Amendment, which allows equal protection for all citizens under law.

The judges posed legal questions to Walters and Calanca as they presented their arguments before the judges rendered their verdicts.

“I thought they both did exceptionally well,” Morrison said.

The participants took questions from the audience following the ruling.

“I think [the event] was informative. I hope that people come away from this with a better understanding of the complexities [of the issue],” said Chris Carpenter, a coach on the debate team who attended the event.

Walters, who organized the event, said the purpose behind the mock trial was not only to expose some of the philosophical issues behind same-sex marriage, but also to raise awareness of how the judicial system functions at the appeals level.

“We want to further knowledge of the appellate process,” he said.