Source: Ventura County Star, Bay Area Reporter, KFSN
The campaign for and against Proposition 8 -- a measure that aims to constitutionally ban gay and lesbian couples from marrying in California -- is just beginning to segue from quiet, behind-the-scenes fundraising to the turn-up-the-volume work of swaying voters.
The shift was evident last night in the Central Valley city of Fresno where a crowd of several hundred Prop. 8 supporters cheered speakers who railed against the California Supreme Court and government officials.
A Fresno pastor asserted at the meeting that support for Prop. 8 wasn't about gay marriage, but about freedom. He suggested the California Supreme Court was un-American in overturning a previous state law passed by voters, Fresno's KFSN TV reports.
Jim Franklin told the cheering crowd,"I don't want four men or women in black robes sitting in some court deciding what the people should be doing and overriding what the people have already done."
The Prop. 8 campaign has also started to take a public turn in Ventura County, a mostly suburban area north of Los Angeles, Ventura County Star reports.
For the second consecutive Saturday this weekend, members of the Mormon church and others will walk through areas of Ventura County. They'll knock on doors and talk to people about preserving the traditional definition of marriage by voting for Proposition 8.
"We expect to have the largest grass-roots effort in the history of the state of California," Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Yes on 8 campaign, told the Star.
The 'freedom' theme emphasized at last night's Yes-on-8 rally in Fresno is being used by both sides of the campaign.
While the church groups campaign for the ballot measure in Ventura, opponents of Prop. 8 will talk about fairness and equality at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Diversity and Pride Festival in Ventura's Mission Park. Themed "Live, Love, Be," the event is being pitched as the kickoff for the local campaign against the proposition.
Advocates of gay marriage say they'll focus on freedom, fairness and equality. Their television ads will start running in October, but Robin Tyler, 66, of Northridge thinks the fate of the campaign depends on gays and lesbians letting people know who they are and that they deserve the same rights as everyone else, Ventura County Star reports.
Tyler and her partner, Diane Olson, tried to get married in Los Angeles County every year for seven years. They were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that brought the Supreme Court's ruling overturning the state's gay marriage ban.
Because of their role in the lawsuit, they were allowed to be the first couple married in Los Angeles County. They were wed in June on the courthouse steps in Beverly Hills. Tyler, who will speak Saturday at the diversity and pride festival in Ventura, thinks coverage of such weddings helped change the way people think.
"They saw loving couples showering California with love. It wasn't about sexual orientation. It was about love," she said, predicting voters will realize the fight for the ban isn't about protecting marriage but about denying civil rights. "This is marriage segregation."
Insiders on both sides predict a highly contested and expensive campaign for and against the ballot measure.
Analysts argue the election's outcome could be swayed by the reluctance of voters to change the state's constitution, Ventura County Star reports. But another wild card is voters opposed to gay marriage who won't say anything until they cast their ballots, for fear of being branded as prejudiced.
A recent California Field Poll suggests people may vote down Prop 8. The survey, conducted one month ago, found 42-percent supported changing the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. While 51-percent oppose prop eight. Seven-percent said they were undecided.
Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, thinks the change is driven by what he calls generational replacement.
"What that means is younger people are more accepting of same-sex marriage than older folks," said DiCamillo, who thinks the November election will bring out more young voters. "You're going to have this turnout that in many ways is going to bring out the no' side."
DiCamillo told the Ventura County Star that the only thing the polls indicate for sure is that supporters of the proposition have an uphill climb.
"Relatively few propositions that start out behind actually pass," he said. "It's only about one out of 10 of those that are even and behind that actually pass."
The Yes-on-8 campaign's Kerns said she believes a majority of Californians want to protect traditional marriage, asserting the Field Poll also underestimated the level of support for the gay marriage ban eight years ago. She predicted a hard struggle because of what she sees as the opposition of the Supreme Court and government officials, including Brown.
"We certainly see ourselves as the underdog going against the power elite," she said.
Mike Shires, a public policy professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, agreed proposition supporters deserve underdog status. But he also predicted a race so close that it could be affected by scenarios ranging from a rainy election day in San Francisco to a one-sided presidential race that dissuades would-be voters from making it to the polls.
"The other complicator is to support gay marriage, you vote no on it, and to oppose gay marriage, you vote yes on it," he said. "That's going to confuse voters."
Each side plans to spend as much as $17 million on television advertising and other marketing but says the heart of the work is talking to voters one on one.
Current figures show both sides of the campaign virtually tied in fundraising, but with Prop. 8 supporters slightly ahead.
Supporters of the gay-marriage ban got a big boost last week when the Connecticut-based Knights of Columbus donated $1 million to ProtectMarriage.com, dwarfing what the group had already given. Prop 8 is gaining support from evangelical churches, the Catholic Church, and the Mormon Church.
Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a member of the No on 8 coalition, urged supporters of marriage equality to contribute from $50 to $1,000 "and help us stay one step ahead of our opposition."
In a mass e-mail titled "What we're up against" that was sent out Monday, August 18, Kors noted the Knights' contribution and wrote, "We know what we're up against. Right-wing organizations that will stop at nothing to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry ... We need your help to stop them!" according to Bay Area Reporter.
"While we have been working hard to bring in amazing contributions from many generous donors, our momentum must continue. We have to meet our opponents' contributions dollar for dollar to win in November."
Knights of Columbus is a fraternal group associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Its huge donation is a sign of the importance of churches to the Prop 8 campaign.
But as important as big contributions are to both sides, the campaigns will depend heavily on small individual contributors, both sides say.
Bay Area Reporter took a look at two of those contributors:
Richard Hardy, a retired doctor in San Jose, has contributed $1,000 to the Prop 8 campaign.
Hardy, who's 79 and has been married for 54 years, told Bay Area Reporter that he realizes there are same-sex couples who've been together for decades, but questions the level of commitment same-sex couples generally have.
"I believe very strongly in the protection of families in the United States, and ... the current status quo that we've had for hundreds of years," Hardy said. "I believe that marriage is for a man and a woman, not two men and two women."
Hardy said he heard about the campaign through the Mormon Church.
"We've been asked to support passage of this constitutional amendment through our monetary contributions and our involvement in the political process of going out and knocking on doors," he said.
David Alcocer, 41, and his partner of 12 years, Steven Thompson, have a different view. According to Alcocer, the couple has given a total of $2,000 to oppose the measure.
"I think it's important for voters to reaffirm the state Supreme Court decision and to make it clear that Californians aren't going to deny a basic right to people just because they happen to be gay," Alcocer, who lives in Oakland, wrote to the B.A.R. "The stakes are incredibly high. California voters will either lead the way for the rest of the country in expanding human rights or take a big step backwards."
Source: Battle over proposed state gay marriage ban heating up in county | Ventura County Star
Proposition 8 Rally | KFSN ABC30 TV
Contributions to Yes on 8 pouring in | Bay Area Reporter