The next campaign in the gay-marriage fight has already begun.
Less than 90 minutes after the California Supreme Court released its ruling on Proposition 8, both sides had already e-mailed supporters soliciting funds anticipating a new ballot measure on gay marriage that could reach voters in 2010.
"We don't have time to mourn the failure of the state court to restore marriage equality to California," wrote Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign, in a 10:15 a.m. e-mail. He added that it was "time to go on offense" and asked supporters to send money for pro-gay-marriage advertising that could begin airing on television later this week.
Ron Prentice, chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, waited until a little after 11 a.m. to hit up his supporters, writing: "We must turn our attention to protecting this victory . . . and must raise several million dollars to get our message out. . . . Please click here to make a contribution."
In addition to buying advertising on TV, both sides are also hiring community organizers who will help supporters reach out to sway individual voters.
Among those prepared to keep fighting is Bill Welsh, senior pastor of Refuge Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach. An ardent supporter of Proposition 8, Welsh spent hours on the street with a sign reading "Marriage is one man and one woman" and leading his congregation of 1,500 in gathering signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.
On Tuesday, he said he felt "pleased that they upheld the will of the people, especially in the increasingly lax moral climate that we're in." But he added that it would be "foolish to think this will be the end of the battle.
"I don't have any desire to get in a violent war with anyone over this, but we won't back down," he said.
On the other side, gay rights activists, who had widely expected to lose, indicated after the ruling that next time they intend to be far more inclusive in their quest to sway Californians. During the last election, the No on 8 campaign was sharply criticized for not reaching out enough to black and Latino voters.
Accordingly, gay activists summoned the media to the Lucy Florence Cultural Center in Leimert Park in the heart of Los Angeles' black community for a news conference chaired by Ron Buckmire, an African American mathematics professor who is also president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, a black gay rights group in Los Angeles.
