(CNSNews.com) - The battle over same-sex marriage in California now centers on a November ballot proposal -- specifically, the wording of a paragraph summarizing that proposal.
Proposition 8, a proposed amendment to the California Constitution, reads: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Supporters of the proposed amendment are furious with California Attorney General Jerry Brown for the way he summarized the ballot initiative. That summary will be part of an informational pamphlet mailed to voters, and conservative activist say it is unfairly slanted.
According to the title and the summary, Prop 8 "Changes [the] California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."
While liberals might view the proposal as eliminating a right, conservatives want the summary to use the words "limit on marriage."
“We feel the ballot language is so inflammatory that it will unduly prejudice voters against the measure," Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for ProtectMarriage.com, was quoted as saying. Kerns accused Attorney General Brown of failing in his duty to provide “fair, accurate” ballot titles and summaries.
Conservative activists on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in an attempt to get the ballot summary language changed.
The entire Prop. 8 summary, one paragraph, reads as follows:
Changes California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Fiscal impact: Over next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact on state and local governments.
ProtectMarriage.com notes that Prop. 8 contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61 percent of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
"Because four activist judges in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote, we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman," the group says on its Web site.
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court -- in a 4-3 decision -- legalized same-sex marriage in California.
Equality California, a homosexual advocacy group, is fighting for the defeat of Proposition 8, which it describes as an initiative that "seeks to take away the fundamental freedom to marry from same-gender couples."
According to the EQ Web site, "Every Californian should have the choice to marry the person they love. It’s a personal and fundamental freedom guaranteed by the California Constitution."
But ProtectMarriage.com says there are three reasons to vote yes on 8: to restore the will of the people, as expressed in the 2000 ballot initiative; to overturn the "outrageous decision of four activist Supreme Court judges who ignored the will of the people"; and to protect children "from being taught in public schools that 'same-sex marriage' is the same as traditional marriage."
ProtectMarriage.com insists that Prop. 8 is not an attack on homosexual couples, nor does it take away the rights that same-sex couples already have under California’s domestic partner law.
"Gays have a right to their private lives, but not to change the definition of marriage for everyone else," the ProtectMarriage.com Web site says.
The attorney general's office plans to defend the ballot language in court, the San Jose Mercury-News reported.
"We carried out our statutory duty to accurately summarize the measure," the newspaper quoted Brown's spokesman, Gareth Lacy, as saying. "In this case, we take into account an extremely important Supreme Court decision that affirms the right to same-sex marriage."