Two potential California ballot initiatives that would ban same-sex marriage and roll back all state domestic partnership rights were the topic of The Center’s Community Coalition Breakfast on Feb. 17.

Dale Kelly Bankhead, campaign manager for Equality for All, and Sid Voorakkara, chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination, were on hand to discuss strategies and overview the fight for marriage equality.

Equality for All, formed early last year, is waging a campaign to combat the two proposed ballot initiatives. At the statewide level, Bankhead said over 40 groups are involved with the organization. In addition to GLBT groups, supporters consist of representatives from a number of state and national organizations, including Equality California, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. A third of the groups are people-of-color organizations, Bankhead said.

“We have worked very hard since last summer building a very strong coalition across the state that was successful in keeping the other side from qualifying a measure for the June ballot, which had been our original concern,” Bankhead said. “A lot of that had to do with the hard work to build a strong coalition and to raise money, and let them know that if they were going to qualify it for the ballot, they were going to have one tough battle on their hands – and that we were going to win.”

Same-sex marriage opponents did not obtain enough petition signatures by the deadline to get either initiative on the June ballot, but Bankhead said there is a very strong possibility the initiatives could appear on the November ballot if they make the April deadline.

Both initiatives would ban same-sex marriage in the California Constitution and repeal all of California’s current domestic partnership rights and benefits.

One initiative, the Voters’ Right to Protect Marriage Initiative (voteyesmarriage.com), 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.

The other initiative, the Protect Marriage Initiative (protectmarriage.com), is a broad-based coalition comprised of numerous national, state and local conservative organizations, including: Focus on the Family, California Family Council, Family Research Council, Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, California Family Alliance, Concerned Women for America, Alliance Defense Fund and individual churches throughout the state.

Thomasson led the Campaign for Children and Families’ 11-city “Real Marriage Tour” to counter the GLBT marriage protests across the state during Freedom to Marry Week earlier this month. News conferences took place in Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Maria, Salinas and Visalia.

“The bad news is that the California Supreme Court and the California state Legislature are preparing to invent homosexual ‘marriages’ and impose them on every community for every child to see,” Thomasson said in a press release. “The good news is the voteyesmarriage.com initiative will override the judges and politicians. It will permanently protect marriage rights for one man and one woman in the California Constitution.”

Bankhead said Thomasson spoke a lot about his campaign’s intentions for 2008 during the news conferences, but did not rule out raising enough money and collecting the signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot this year.

If the initiatives reach the ballot and are approved, the results could be devastating for the GLBT community, she said. “They [the initiatives] change the constitution so that no legislature and no court can find that marriage equality is the law of the land here in California. There can be no laws passed. There can be no court rulings…. For the foreseeable future, if they manage to get these measures adopted there will be no marriage equality. There will be no domestic partnership protections in the state of California. So we have to stop it now.”

Bankhead said Equality for All has raised more than $400,000, enabling the organization to hire consultants and purchase TV advertisement time.

Voorakkara said engaging allies, organizing caucuses within different communities and having individual conversations with voters has a significant impact on changing opinions regarding the same-sex marriage issue.

“There’s always going to be a fight. Constantly they’re going to be coming out at us and attacking us,” Voorakkara said. “In order to be able to be supportive of winning those fights and battles, we need to be thinking beyond just this election. We need to be thinking about how we change hearts and minds and social norms and behaviors.”

Voorakkara highlighted the Marriage Equality Digital Storytelling Project, which is a collaborative effort between San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination, The Center’s Marriage Equality & Education Project and Equality California. The project, composed of a Digital Story Quilt that incorporates images, narratives and stories to convey a marriage equality message, is designed to help Californians understand the real impact of marriage discrimination.

“This is a great way to win over [the] hearts and minds of people. We need you to share your stories and your commitment to your loved ones,” Voorakkara said.