A challenge to California’s gay marriage ban failed on Monday to qualify for the 2010 ballot, leaving gay activists mulling a 2012 push and hoping a federal court will overturn the measure before then.
Los Angeles-based Love Honor Cherish carried out a volunteer-driven signature-gathering effort after large groups decided there was not enough time to ensure victory this year, even with some polls showing more than 50 percent support for same-sex marriage, according to Reuters.
John Henning, who heads Love Honor Cherish, declined to say how many signatures had been gathered since the all-volunteer campaign got underway in late November. He said 694,000 valid signatures were required by Monday.
“There comes a point where the intake of signatures isn’t rapid enough to make up your deficit,” Henning told the Los Angeles Times. “We started to realize last week that we weren’t going to make it.”
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Meanwhile, a constitutional challenge of Proposition 8 is pending in a federal court in San Francisco.
Closing arguments in the case, expected last month, have been delayed because of disputes over the production of documents sought by proponents of the initiative.
