By Peter J. Smith
SACRAMENTO, California, April 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual activists eager to repeal California’s ban on same-sex “marriage” have admitted defeat for this year, as they could not gather enough signatures from Californians who share their enthusiasm to put their initiative on the November ballot.
Supporters for same-sex “marriage” gathered under the banner of Restore Equality 2010 were determined to repeal Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment approved by Californians in 2008 defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
The group said they missed the state’s Monday filing deadline, because they did not have the requisite 695,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot. They did not reveal by how much their effort had failed.
“Our signature collection effort may have fallen short, but we stand tall as being the only statewide campaign that fought for repealing Proposition 8 in 2010,” said Sean Bohac, Chairman of the Restore Equality 2010, in a statement reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Restore Equality 2010 originally formed as an offshoot of Equality California, one of the largest homosexualist organizations in California, over a strategic disagreement on when to press for a repeal. Equality California wanted to wait until 2012 to mount a challenge to Prop. 8 at the ballot box, arguing they would have more time to prepare and a better advantage with younger voters in a presidential election.
Restore Equality says they instead will now return to the original plan, and coordinate with other same-sex “marriage” proponents to overturn Prop. 8 in 2012.
The Sacramento Bee reports that the pro-family National Organization for Marriage believes that Californians have already decided on the issue, and are unlikely to want to decide the question again.
“Efforts to repeal Prop 8 failed because the majority of Californians do not want to revisit this issue,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s Executive Director. “Even the minority of Californians who voted against Prop 8 have accepted that the majority rules and moved on to other issues.”