CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Both sides in West Virginia’s same-sex marriage debate proved able to talk alongside each other during last week’s legislative hearing. But they remain worlds apart on the question of a new amendment for the state’s constitution.

The two-hour meeting of the House-Senate study committee saw no real outbursts or disruptions, despite the thorny topic. People from both sides also spent around 45 minutes afterward politely discussing and debating.

But those conversations, and the dueling presentations at the hearing, revealed little room for compromise on the central issue of whether West Virginia should define marriage in its constitution.

For one thing, each side suspects the other of conspiracy.

The Family Policy Council of West Virginia has mounted the state’s most visible campaign for a marriage amendment. Its president, Jeremy Dys, cited evidence he said points to “a coordinated, nationwide effort to redefine marriage.”

Dys mentioned the recent Iowa court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage there, and legislation in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont allowing the same. But he also invoked a pending federal hate crimes measure, and the drive to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“Each is designed to make same-sex activity a conspicuous part of American society,” Dys told lawmakers. “The hoped-for result is the public acceptance of same-sex marriage and the homosexual lifestyle.”

But President Stephen Skinner of Fairness West Virginia noted the council’s reliance on Republican consulting firms to conduct polling among other services. Skinner sees a political motive behind the campaign.

“Who does this really help? Will this help one marriage in West Virginia?” asked Skinner, whose group advocates for gay, bisexual and transgender West Virginians. “I think there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that the promotion of a referendum is tied to partisan political purposes.”

At least some members of the Democrat-controlled Legislature appear to agree. House Majority Whip Mike Caputo, D-Marion, confronted Dys during the hearing about council-funded phone polling that asked local voters to call him – but not other lawmakers in his district.

“I never met you before today. I didn’t even know what you looked like. Have you ever asked me what my position was?” Caputo said at one point.

Skinner’s side fielded its critics as well. Delegate John Frazier, D-Mercer and a former judge, questioned whether Skinner’s group would label him a bigot if he supported the legislation needed for a statewide vote on amending the constitution.

Skinner replied that it was not his nature to call anyone a bigot. The response prompted one member of the audience to turn to his neighbors and quietly remark, “That’s what you’ve been doing.”

The hearing’s audience included a number of the ministers that the council has sought to recruit to lobby lawmakers on the issue. Several shook or hung their heads when Skinner argued that “all of the legitimate science tells us that sexual orientation happens before birth.”

Such silent reactions continued when Skinner, who is gay, added that “God made us this way.” These and others in the crowd later chortled when House Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, a committee member, said “I knew Stephen Skinner before he was gay.” Webster, D-Kanawha, said afterward that she misspoke.

The prospects for a constitutional amendment hinge on whether enough lawmakers believe that the state’s 2000 law on the subject is insufficient or could fall to a legal challenge.

It requires all marriage license applications to declare that “marriage is designed to be a loving and lifelong union between a woman and a man.” It also rejects any same-sex marriage granted elsewhere.

West Virginia is among 41 states with such language in their statutes. Lawyer Jordan Lorence of the national Alliance Defense Fund, which is aiding the council’s campaign, told the interim committee that courts in nine of those states have declared such laws unconstitutional.

Lorence added that three of those states – New York, Washington and neighboring Maryland – saw higher courts reverse those rulings. Three other states – Alaska, Hawaii and California last year – are among the 30 to amend their constitutions to define marriage as between a woman and a man.