Last week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would oppose the ballot measure to prohibit marriage for same-sex couples. He committed to “always be there to fight against” such an amendment and he acknowledged that the initiative was a “waste of time.”

The governor’s support can help carry us to victory – but not without you.

By the time you read this, we’ll have five days or less left to see whether the extremist groups who are paying people to gather signatures to put the anti-marriage initiative on the November 2008 ballot have gathered the 1.1 million signatures they need to qualify. If we are able to convince enough people not to sign the petition, our opponents will have to regroup. If not, we immediately face a long and enormously expensive battle to keep discrimination from becoming law in California.

Since mid-February The Center has been working with an incredible statewide coalition, Equality for All, to help staff, support and strategize the Decline to Sign efforts throughout the state. The executive, committee for the campaign, the NGLTF and the HRC, along with scores of other participating organizations, have helped to put a campaign in the field to educate voters about their right to decline to sign the marriage amendment petition. Part-time staff members were hired and hundreds of incredible volunteers have participated during the last eight weeks. Activities have taken place in San Diego, Riverside, Sacramento, Orange County, parts of L.A. and sites further inland where paid signature gatherers hired by ProtectMarriage.com and NationForMarriage.com have been placed.

The goal of all activities has been to keep the ProtectMarriage.com and NationForMarriage.com proponents from qualifying for the November 2008 ballot by helping voters understand what they are being asked to sign and their right not to sign. It made more sense to try this than to do nothing and face a $20 million battle in November. We were also hoping that blocking even 100,000 signatures would matter, given the short time frame. We knew it would be a battle won at the margins.

How is San Diego doing, given that the odds of success at the beginning weren’t great? The effort has been tremendous and the effort in San Diego has been one of the most outstanding in the state. Despite the challenge of finding folks willing to give up weekends to do this difficult job of talking to shoppers and being berated and harassed by paid signature gatherers, San Diego has delivered! Many, many thanks to those of you who have volunteered and gotten your friends and family to volunteer! We have five more days and we need to field even larger teams this weekend.

Where are our opponents statewide in their efforts to qualify for the ballot? The last public report said they had 975,000 signatures. Some rumors indicate they have between 1 million and 1,025,000. If that is true, they have five days to get 100,000 signatures, which is doable, but requires them firing on all burners. And it means we have to be firing on all burners for one more weekend. The situation is this: our opponents have enough money and a large network. They are desperately sending e-mails to their supporters about the “outside homosexual activists who are blocking them and harassing them,” and their need for more help and money. They have sent out three more robo-calls and made emergency calls to all of their churches. That means they are desperate. But it also increases the urgency, which may help them.

What will happen on Monday April 21?

They will likely turn in signatures, but the battle won’t be over. How many signatures they turn in matters and what matters even more is how many of those signatures are valid. The answer to the first will likely be announced Monday. The answer to the second won’t be clear for weeks, possibly not until mid-June.

Your help is critical. Sign up for weekday and weekend shifts between now and April 21 by emailing stopthepetitionsd@gmail.com or calling (619) 692-2077, ext. 206. Be sure to include your name, phone number and the days you are available. For more information on the fight to stop the initiative, visit www.equalityforall.com.

With more than 100,000 signatures left for our opponents to gather, we still have a good chance of keeping the initiative off the ballot, but we need your help to make it happen.