Battle Looms Over Marriage

A constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in California isn't yet on the November ballot, but politicians, gay rights groups, religious organizations and others are preparing for a battle that will ripple across the state and could help decide who is elected president.

The initiative, which says California will recognize marriages only between a man and a woman, is expected to qualify for the ballot soon after June 16, when this month's state Supreme Court ruling overturning an 8-year-old ban on same-sex marriage is scheduled to take effect - clearing the way for gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.

But the run on orange blossoms could be short-lived. The California Marriage Protection Act, if approved, would trump the court's 4-3 decision and once again bar same-sex couples from marriage.

"We're already working on the November election," said Alice Kessler, director of government affairs for Equality California, a leading organization in the coalition opposing the initiative. Supporters of the group worked in Sacramento, Fresno and Riverside to persuade voters not to sign petitions, she added, which "gave us people on the ground to begin a conversation with voters."

Backers of the ban submitted more than 1.1 million signatures for the initiative, far more than the 694,354 needed to put it on the ballot. And when the state Supreme Court on May 15 overturned voter-approved Prop. 22, ruling that it discriminated against gays and lesbians by denying them the right to marry, it jump-started their fall campaign.

"The phone was ringing off the hook," said Karen England, spokeswoman for the Capitol Resource Institute, which backs the initiative. "People were upset, and they wanted to know how they could help."

Passage of Prop. 22

Prop. 22, whose language banning same-sex marriage is echoed in the initiative aimed for November, passed with more than 61 percent of the vote in 2000. As a constitutional amendment, the new measure could only be changed by another vote of the people, not by the courts or the Legislature.

Florida, a key swing state, has a similar measure on the November ballot, and Arizona's Legislature is considering whether to do the same. Those states and 39 others already limit marriage to a man and a woman, while 27 states have constitutional language defining marriage.

 More of  Battle Looms Over Marriage

Ban on same-sex nuptials is expected to qualify for the Nov. ballot, and the ensuing battle will have wide repercussions.