MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey’s well-organized gay rights advocates are finding their adversaries are also getting prepared for a coming legislative debate over same-sex marriage.

The National Organization for Marriage, established earlier this year in Princeton, made itself known over the past few weeks with radio advertisements urging people to call their lawmakers to tell them that allowing same-sex couples to marry would undermine the institution.

The group set up in left-leaning New Jersey because it is one of a few states where there’s a realistic chance in the next few years that lawmakers will vote to allow same-sex marriage. That makes it a battleground for the issues nationally.

“If our side continues to increase in its activism, I think we can stop this in 2008,” said Brian Brown, the executive director of the new organization.

Steven Goldstein, the chair of Garden State Equality, said the emergence of the new group shows how close New Jersey is to becoming the first state to enact a law to allow same-sex couples to marry.

“We’re not surprised at the right wing’s panic,” he said. “We’re ready for this battle.”

The only state that currently lets same-sex couples marry is Massachusetts – and that was because of a ruling from the state’s top court.

Last year, New Jersey’s state Supreme Court declared that same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as married couples. The Legislature responded adopting a civil unions law, which allows those benefits – but stops short of allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Goldstein and his allies have promised since then that they would keep pushing for full marriage. But instead of going to the courts again, he vowed to go first to the state Legislature.

It’s a relatively new strategy for gay rights advocates. Only in California has a legislature passed a similar bill. There, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has twice vetoed the measure.

Just a year ago in New Jersey, it seemed a long shot that lawmakers would pass a marriage bill any time soon. Back then, Goldstein acknowledged that only a handful of lawmakers were solidly behind the cause.

But civil unions have received poor reviews from couples, many of whom say their employers, and others, are not recognizing the rights they’re supposed to bring with them.

Nearly one-fifth of the more than 2,000 couples that had licenses for civil unions as of mid-November have complained to Garden State Equality that some of their rights have been denied.

Now, Goldstein says, he might have enough support to get a law passed. His group and another liberal organization, Blue Jersey, have aired television commercials explaining their position.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign a same-sex marriage bill into law, but added that he did not want to deal with the issue before the 2008 presidential election.

Goldstein is pushing for a discussion about a year from now.

The opponents, who say the majority of people agree with them, are trying to get mobilized in case it comes up before then.

Brown, who previously ran the Family Institute of Connecticut, says same-sex marriage would affect people other than same-sex couples and their families.

For instance, he says allowing it would mean that children in public schools would have to be taught that it’s OK to be gay, that people who oppose same-sex marriage could be seen as bigots and that religious organizations that teach homosexuality is wrong could lose their tax-exempt status.

“Can’t people care about their culture? Can’t people care about the effects it will have on society at large?” he asked.