Three lawsuits have been filed, Democratic legislators along with the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles are rallying behind the cause, and protesters have lifted signs in the streets and called for boycotts.
Overturning Proposition 8, however, may be more a matter of time and patience than politics and pressure, according to experts analyzing trends in voting and polling results.
Proposition 8 passed Nov. 4 by 52-percent-to-48-percent margin, banning gay marriage in California.
That four-point margin was much slimmer than Proposition 22, a similar measure that passed in 2000 by a nearly 20 point margin, garnering 61 percent of the vote.
The difference in the vote totals from 2000 to 2008 indicates a trend in favor of gay marriage in California, experts said. That same trend is apparent nationally. Polls in 1996 showed 68 percent of people opposed same-sex marriage, but in 2004, opposition dropped to 55 percent, according to the Gallup Organization.
"I think the idea of same-sex marriage, say 15 to 20 years ago, was really new to a lot of straight people," said Kim Buchanan, a USC law professor and expert on race, gender and sexual regulation. "When I was growing up, I learned marriage was between man and a woman, and if you are straight you don't have a lot of reason to question that."
See Experts debate polling, electoral trends on same sex marriage San Bernardino Sun
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