The two groups, ProtectMarriage.com and VoteYesMarriage.com, which failed to get same-sex marriage bans on the state ballot two years ago are trying again – one with backing from a local Christian conservative organization.

Meanwhile, The Center is organizing events to counter signature gatherers in many parts of the county, including Hillcrest, who are reportedly misleading voters into believing that they are signing a statement in favor of marriage equality.

“We need your help now,” said representatives from The Center’s Public Policy Department in an action alert sent to community members via e-mail.

“The time period is short, with only nine weekends left, but we can help San Diegans understand and refuse to sign away our rights to love and marriage,” the e-mail explained.

The Center asked community members to be on the lookout for people gathering signatures and to report them to The Center’s public affairs coordinator, Caroline Dessert, so The Center can take action to block the efforts of the anti-same-sex marriage groups. ProtectMarriage.com and VoteYesMarriage.com have filed ballot language with the California Secretary of State that would, if approved by voters, amend the California Constitution to limit marriage to one man and one woman regardless of how the Supreme Court rules in a lawsuit set to be heard and decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. They have until late April to gather signatures from 694,354 voters to qualify the measures for the November election and have begun circulating petitions, fund-raising and recruiting volunteers through Southern California churches. Still, the courts are preparing a scheduled March 4 hearing to begin oral arguments in the four cases brought by 15 same-sex couples, the city of San Francisco and a gay-rights group challenging state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The lawsuits grew out of the month-long wedding spree that took place in San Francisco four years ago when Mayor Gavin Newsom directed employees to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, an act of civil disobedience eventually halted by the high court.

Although the groups opposed to same-sex marriage launched marriage amendment campaigns in 2005, they fell far short of collecting enough signatures. There is much more money and organization behind their efforts now, according to advocates on both sides of the issue.

“The very fact that this is in front of the Supreme Court, I think, will highlight the need for voters to take the issue away from the courts, period,” said Andrew Pugno, a lawyer for ProtectMarriage.com.

By enshrining the two laws that already prevent gays from marrying in the state Constitution, both amendments would overrule the justices if they decide the current statutes are an unconstitutional violation of the civil rights of same-sex couples. The court is expected to issue it’s ruling by early June.

The VoteYesMarriage initiative would go a step further, however, by prohibiting the state from granting same-sex couples the spousal rights and tax benefits of marriage, as it already has by allowing same-sex couples to register as domestic partners. If it passed, those rights would be eliminated.

As was the case in 2005, the philosophical differences between the two groups has them competing for support among the same voters and conservative activists, as well as facing the prospect of a confusing and divisive campaign if both measures make it on the ballot.

Lined up behind ProtectMarriage are the widow and political allies of the late state Sen. William J. “Pete” Knight, who sponsored Proposition 22, a 2000 ballot initiative approved by voters that strengthened the state’s ban on gay unions. Proposition 22 is one of the laws that will be before the Supreme Court next month.

According to campaign finance reports, the group last year raised just less than $130,000 dollars in donations, most of it from Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based evangelical organization founded by Dr. James Dobson, and from the National Organization for Marriage, a Princeton, N.J.-based group established to fight same-sex marriage in that state.

The money has helped ProtectMarriage hire paid signature gatherers to supplement the volunteers being recruited by God’s Design for Marriage, a coalition of pastors in San Diego County formed to back the amendment.

VoteYesMarriage, which is headed by veteran activist Randy Thomasson, raised $84,000 last year, some of which has been spent placing ads in religious newspapers urging readers to help their pastors “know the difference between a true and a false marriage amendment.”

Both groups say they have poll results showing that only their amendment would be approved at the ballot box.

So far, no state court has joined Massachusetts in recognizing marriage as a civil right. Along with California, Connecticut and Iowa also have cases pending on whether allowing gays to enter into civil unions and domestic partnerships provides a legal equivalent to getting married.

Same-sex marriage proponents are gearing up for a fierce and expensive fight, said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California. With the court case pending, they opted not to ask the Legislature this year to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, as it has done twice before only to have the measures vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While 26 states have amended their constitutions to ban same-sex marriage, both opponents and supporters recognize California, home to more same-sex couples than any other state and historically a gay rights pioneer, as a crucial win or loss in their column, Kors said.

If one or both of the amendments wind up on the November ballot, “this will be an election like we haven’t seen before on this issue,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story