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Sponsors of California Marriage Amendment Prepare to Submit Signatures

A coalition of religious groups that hopes to add an antigay constitutional marriage amendment to California's November ballot says it has collected the requisite number of signatures to qualify the measure, according to the Associated Press. The coalition, known as Protect Marriage, claims to have gathered more than 1.1 million signatures, though it needed only 694,354 signatures in order to meet the threshold.


A coalition of religious groups that hopes to add an antigay constitutional marriage amendment to California's November ballot says it has collected the requisite number of signatures to qualify the measure, according to the Associated Press.

The coalition, known as Protect Marriage, claims to have gathered more than 1.1 million signatures, though it needed only 694,354 signatures in order to meet the threshold.

"We have gone against tremendous odds to do this, and now the voters in California will have the chance to protect marriage," Brian Brown, executive director of the California office of the National Organization for Marriage, told the AP.

Protect Marriage plans to submit the signatures this week for verification by the California secretary of state. The deadline is April 28.

Earlier this month Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a gathering of Log Cabin Republicans that he thought the measure was unnecessary and that he would campaign against it should it make the ballot. However, the state legislature has twice passed a marriage equality bill that Schwarzenegger has vetoed both times.

Though California's gay couples cannot legally wed, the state's supreme court is currently deliberating over a constitutional challenge to the ban on same-sex marriage.

New Jersey–based National Organization for Marriage, Colorado-based Focus on the Family, and the Knights of Columbus all contributed heavily to the Protect Marriage campaign. (The Advocate)

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Reader Comments
  • Name: NB
    Date posted: 5/15/2008 3:20:00 PM
    Hometown: Washington, DC

    Comment:

    I've heard rumors that these people are paying poverty-stricken individuals to signs their petition.

  • Name: Ryan K
    Date posted: 5/15/2008 2:16:00 PM
    Hometown: San Francisco, California

    Comment:

    Being a lawyer I should know this (but, new to California) I don't. What is the likelihood of this proposition/ballot measure passing in the state if it makes it to the election in November? I don't know the state's demographic and political makeup too well, but I would think that the large urban areas could offset any significant votes in the more rural (read: conservative) areas.



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