This week the California Attorney General’s Office approved the title and summaries for three proposed amendments that seek to deny health insurance, medical leave rights, hospital visitation and other protections and responsibilities for hundreds of thousands of California families. The three initiatives aim to get on the June 2006 ballot, and seek to ban same-sex marriage in the California Constitution.

In response to the looming threat of the initiatives, a statewide coalition called Equality for All formed in May. The campaign’s committee consists of representatives from a number of state and national organizations including Equality California, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, San Diego’s The Center, Bienestar, the ACLU and many others.

Sid Voorakkara, the interim campaign manager for Equality for All, said it is crucial to fight the measures before they reach the ballot.

“I think it is significantly important to begin the fight now because the measures themselves are so out of line and out step with what Californians value and believe,” he told the Gay & Lesbian Times.

The first initiative was released Monday, and is sponsored by Campaign for Children and Families president Randy Thomasson, retired Assemblymember Larry Bowler and Civil Rights for Families president Tony Andrade. Numerous conservative organizations, including the Traditional Values Coalition, have signed on in support. Gayle Knight, the widow of Senator Pete Knight, along with Natalie Wood from the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund and Phillip Kell of California Family Alliance are among the sponsors of the other two initiatives.

The petitions can now be printed and circulated to gather the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2006.

“I really don’t think there’s much convincing that needs to be done on our part with respect to the average voter there in the state,” Ben Lopez, legislative analyst and lobbyist for the TVC, told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “I think the majority of people in the state who voted for Prop. 22 five years ago are still around. They’re very much still in favor of defining marriage solely for one man, one woman.”

Proposition 22 was ratified by a majority of California voters on March 7, 2000 and added a provision to the Family Code providing that only out of state marriages between a man and a woman are valid or recognized in California. Prop. 22, also known as the California Defense of Marriage Act, was one of a slew of similar measures passed after President Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

Defense of Marriage Act legislation applies to same-sex marriages performed out of state. A California court recently ruled that Prop. 22 does not apply to domestic partnership benefits granted under Assembly Bill 205, the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1.

Lopez remains confident that TVC and CCF will gather the necessary signatures for their initiative to make it onto next June’s ballot. However, he said that once on the ballot, it’s going to be a tense battle between both sides.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a hard sell to qualify the initiative,” he said. “Once it qualifies, that’s going to be a different story. That’s a whole different ballgame, a whole different giant.”

According to the Secretary of State’s Web site, proponents of any constitutional amendment are required to collect 598,105 valid signatures. On the other hand, a statute only needs 373,816 valid signatures.

Voorakkara said the number of signatures required changes from election to election, and the Secretary of State’s Office bases the number of valid signatures needed for qualification based on a formula from the previous election turnout in California.

Proponents of the initiative have 150 days to collect the signatures from the date they receive title and summary from the Attorney General’s Office, Voorakkara said. He added they must have those signatures qualify at least 131 days before the next statewide election.

“If they choose to just get 598,105 signatures, that’s fine by me, as you can almost count on a large number of those signatures being disqualified for one reason or another,” said Voorakkara.

He said supporters of the measure will need to collect roughly 900,000 signatures due to the large amount of signatures that are typically disqualified. In order to sign a petition related to a constitutional amendment, an individual has to be an official registered voter in the county in which the signature is obtained.

The proposed initiatives would amend the California Constitution to repeal existing rights, benefits and responsibilities for legally recognized domestic partners, and permanently ban marriage protections for same-sex couples.

If the measure gets on the ballot and passes next June, it would effectively eliminate benefits granted to domestic partners under AB 205, requiring a tax increase on property jointly owned by unmarried couples, including senior citizen couples, upon the death of either partner. It would also deny health insurance, hospital visitation, inheritance rights and medical leave to thousands of GLBT families in the state.

“These are organizations that have lied and been deceitful in the past, all just to win, and we’re going to be out in full force to educate Californians about what these measures would really mean for everyday families,” said Voorakkara. “It’s important and imperative to remember that the way these measures read can have devastating consequences.”

The Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force have each donated $100,000 to kick off fund-raising for the Equality for All campaign.

San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination is a local coalition working to fight the ballot initiative and will be educating community members, recruiting volunteers and having people sign pledge cards against discrimination at the Stonewall Rally on Friday, July 29, as well as at the Pride parade on July 30 and the two-day Pride festival July 30-31.

“It is imperative that all of us begin to have conversations with our family members, our friends and our co-workers about how marriage discrimination affects our lives,” said AJ Davis, director of public policy at The Center, who is helping to organize SDAMD’s efforts. “Personal conversations with those of us that are directly affected are an incredibly effective way to help people understand how these discriminatory measures hurt real families.”

SDAMD has been working with Equality for All, and their efforts will continue after Pride with a variety of activities.

Anyone interested in helping educate the community about marriage discrimination should contact the project coordinator Eddie Valtierra at (619) 692-2077 ext. 111 or evaltierra@thecentersd.org.