Effort to ban gay marriage (in CA) falls short of signatures

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Effort to ban gay marriage falls short of signatures

By Harrison Sheppard, Sacramento Bureau
LA Daily News

SACRAMENTO - Backers of a proposed ballot measure to ban gay marriage and domestic partnerships said they failed to collect enough signatures by a Tuesday deadline to put the issue before voters.

Supported by a coalition of family-values groups and Republican legislators called ProtectMarriage.com, the measure sought to ban marriage between same-sex couples as well as roll back existing laws recognizing domestic partnerships.

Proponents had to gather nearly 600,000 signatures by Tuesday to be placed on the ballot, but realized last week they had fallen about 200,000 short of the mark.

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The other group pushing for a gay marriage ban, VoteYesMarriage.com is continuing to move forward with fundraising and preparations for a signature drive. Randy Thomasson, one of the organizers, said backers will not begin collecting signatures until they have the necessary funds in place, and are hoping to place it on the November 2006 ballot, though it could be later. That measure goes further in seeking to restrict some of the mandatory benefits awarded by the state to domestic partnerships.

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Harrison Sheppard, [phone] [e-mail]

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3348727