GLBT community members are breathing a tentative sigh of relief this week as the deadline has passed for a referendum that would have put AB 205 to a vote on the March ballot. According to the state constitution, the signatures would have to have been submitted on Dec. 4 in order to clear the certification process in time for California voters to weigh in on the law in March. The referendum’s proponents, state Senator Pete Knight and Assemblymember Ray Haynes, now have until Dec. 21 to submit signatures that would allow the measure to appear on the November 2004 ballot.

“I was ecstatic,” said Dale Kelly Bankhead of the ACLU, who also headed up the local fight to stop the referendum. “It was a mean-spirited, ill-advised attempt in the first place and I’m very glad, whatever the reason, that we won’t have to face this in March.”

According to Bankhead, signature gatherers were working on the process, but they failed to gather enough before the deadline. Faced with a Dec. 21 deadline to qualify for the November ballot, Knight and Haynes have both said that they are no longer focused on the referendum process and will fight AB 205 in the courts, but Bankhead feels the GLBT community should remain on guard.

“Things tend to change,” she warned. “Last year is a perfect example. The gubernatorial recall was pretty much DOA until Congressman Issa and his hefty checkbook appeared on the scene, and in a very short period of time the recall was qualified for the ballot.”

She added, “The bottom line is we are remaining vigilant and we will not disband our campaign until it is absolutely positive that they can neither be on the March or November ballot, but we are pretty hopeful at this point.”

The website of the anti-gay group Campaign for California Families confirms the failure of anti-gay forces to mobilize against domestic partners, saying that Knight and Haynes “have dropped their plans for a statewide ballot referendum to reverse AB 205.”

Knight’s office says they believe their lawsuit against AB 205 will be successful and that’s where they are putting their hopes. The Campaign for California Families and Knight have separate lawsuits seeking preliminary injunctions to block the implementation of AB 205. The Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Counsel are providing pro bono services in the lawsuit, and a hearing is set for Dec. 12, when a judge will hear arguments for a restraining order to prevent the Secretary of State from moving forward with the implementation of AB 205.

“Along with the really wonderful expansion of rights there is also an expansion of responsibilities built into AB 205 and some couples may not want to go that way,” Bankhead explained, noting that the first step in the implementation of the law is to send out letters to registered couples informing them of their rights and responsibilities under AB 205 so that they can decide whether they want to stay registered.

“They are asking to bar the secretary of state from sending out those letters because the status of the law is being challenged,” she added. “Of course all of the various lawyers have opposed this, including the attorney general’s office that represents the secretary of state. We’ll see what the judge does.”

According to Bankhead, one of the standards for granting such a temporary restraining order is that the party seeking the restraining order is likely to prevail on the merits of their case.

“If the judge turns them down it may very well be because they don’t think the other side’s case is very good,” she said. “That would be a very good piece of news for us.”

San Diego was just one of the cities in the statewide effort to put a stop to the referendum, with Equality California leading the coalition of community organizations.

“The quick response of the LGBT community to this threat against our civil rights has certainly put a damper on the right wing’s ability to muster support for their anti-gay agenda,” said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California. EQCA was the official sponsor of AB 205. “However, we can’t be certain that, just because they say they aren’t collecting signatures, they won’t actually submit signatures for the November election. After all, these are the same people who insisted only three years ago that Proposition 22 would not impact domestic partner rights.”

Organizations involved in the statewide efforts included the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Center, the San Francisco LGBT Center, Marriage Equality California, and dozens of community groups across the state. A decision on the temporary restraining order against the secretary of state is expected before the New Year, when the first phase of AB 205 is expected to be enacted.