Calif. same-sex marriage measure could affect presidential election

A constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in California isn't yet on the November ballot, but politicians, gay rights groups and religious organizations 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 group 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."

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.

In 2004, 13 states passed measures outlawing same-sex marriage after the Massachusetts Supreme Court reiterated its decision affirming same-sex marriage and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom led efforts to issue marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples.

Democrats including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the backlash four years ago helped bring out conservative voters who re-elected President Bush. While support for same-sex marriage has been growing in the state, it remains a potential land mine that splits California -- and U.S. -- voters.

A knock-down, drag-out campaign battle over same-sex marriage in the nation's largest state this year will have repercussions -- and make headlines -- across the nation.

Art Torres, the state Democratic Party leader, said that he doesn't want to see the marriage initiative become a partisan football -- but he has left no doubt where he and his party stand.

The court's decision "marks a giant step forward in our march toward true equality," Torres said in a May 15 statement. "Now we must refocus our efforts on fighting the divisive and discriminatory ... amendment that would take away marriage equality for same-sex couples."

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, supports civil unions and equal rights for same-sex couples, but he has said repeatedly that marriage itself should be reserved for a man and a woman.

With an amendment outlawing same-sex marriage on the California ballot in November, Obama will probably be called to defend his carefully nuanced position when he campaigns in the state. That won't be a problem for him or for his remaining rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also opposes same-sex marriage, said Torres.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, backs the California ballot measure and supported an even wider-ranging constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage that voters in his home state rejected in 2006.

(E-mail John Wildermuth at jwildermuth(at)sfchronicle.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)