Gay marriage battle heats up in Calif.

SACRAMENTO -- A battle over same-sex marriage is erupting again in California -- just before a trial court in San Francisco begins hearings on the constitutionality of the state's ban on gay marriage and barely a month after stinging Election Day defeats for gay rights activists across the country.

Earlier this month, competing bills were introduced in the California Legislature that are expected to plunge the state front and center in the gay marriage controversy -- and further thrust the Democratic Party into an uneasy debate over how much political capital it will spend on the issue.

On the same day that California Assemblyman Mark Leno introduced a bill seeking to legalize gay marriage, the Traditional Values Coalition also launched a legislative drive for a ballot measure that would not only write the statutory ban on same-sex marriages into California's Constitution but also strip gay and lesbian couples of existing domestic partnership rights.

''We're going to stand our ground and take back what was taken from us when it comes to marriage. We're doing what it takes to push this back into the closet where it belongs," said Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the coalition, a faith-based advocacy group based in Orange County, among the state's most conservative quarters.

Leno's bill would rewrite the state's Family Code by redefining marriage as a civil contract ''between two persons" instead of ''between a man and woman," but it would not compel churches and other religious institutions to perform gay weddings.

Leno said his proposal seeks to ''fulfill the promise of liberty and justice for all," adding that ''there's no wrong time to fight for one's civil rights."

Leno pulled his bill from the last legislative session to appease party officials worried about an election-year backlash.

''Unfortunately, the Democratic Party nationally, and to a lesser extent in California, has been playing defense," Leno said. ''When the party once again fully embraces the radical notions enshrined in our Constitution -- that all citizens are due respect and dignity and equal protection under the law -- we will again be a stronger party."

On Wednesday, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge is scheduled to open hearings on the constitutionality of the state's ban on same-sex marriages, but a ruling is not expected until well into next year. Regardless of the outcome, the decision will surely be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The case was spawned by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to issue marriage licenses to 3,995 same-sex couples during a 29-day wedding spree. Six months later, the state Supreme Court invalidated the marriages saying the city had overstepped its authority.

Newsom was widely criticized by some Democrats worried about a backlash, and similar unease is resurfacing.

''There's always a general assumption that we [Democrats] are all on the same page on this," said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, a Democrat who represents a San Francisco Bay Area suburb. ''From a political strategy, a number of us are concerned after seeing the results of the national election."

On Election Day, voters in 11 states banned gay marriages, bringing the total to 17 states that have provisions against same-sex marriages.

''You can certainly win the battle, but lose the war," Canciamilla said, suggesting that Leno's bill could be ''used as a rallying point for the Lou Sheldons of the world," referring to the conservative minister and firebrand who founded the Traditional Values Coalition.

''There are a lot of members who want to make a point of this, who see it as a civil rights issue and want to make a political issue," Canciamilla said, adding that ''most members are afraid to talk about the issue" and will not be heard from until a vote.

Leno has the backing of key Democrats, who hold strong majorities in both houses of the California Legislature. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Don Perata have pledged their support.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has not publicly opposed gay marriage, but has said it is a matter best left to voters or the courts.

''The governor, while he hasn't wanted to talk about it, seems sympathetic. So the likelihood of [the Leno legislation] getting a fair hearing is really good," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University in Sacramento.

''California has never been stymied by the national momentum."

Setbacks on the national stage have prompted some gay rights activists to rethink strategies.

On Nov. 30, Cheryl Jacques, the head of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy organization, abruptly resigned.

Some of her supporters say she was forced out because she continued to want to push for full marriage rights for gays and lesbians even after the election, and was opposed by activists wanting to pursue a more moderate course.

But Seth Kilbourn, national field director for the organization, said: ''The goal has not changed. The goal is still full equality for gays and lesbians, and that means the right to marry.

''Having said that, I think there is a lot of work we need to do. We need to really think carefully about how we communicate to the American voter about this issue. What we don't want to happen is more of those referenda and those ballot measures."

A statewide Field Poll in June suggested that most Californians are opposed to same-sex marriages, although the 5-to-4 margin is narrower than the prevailing national sentiments.

''If the courts come down the right way, then we won't have to go to the ballot," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, a Southern California Republican who is sponsoring one of the bills on behalf of the Traditional Values Coalition.

''Our purpose is to settle things once and for all, to make it clear that indeed the people have spoken rather clearly," Haynes said.

In 2000, California voters sided with same-sex marriage opponents, when they overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22, by adding a new -- and now disputed -- section in the state's Family Code that states, ''Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

But the language was inserted in a section dealing with out-of-state marriages and was passed at a time Hawaii and Vermont seemed poised to sanction same-sex unions.

Therefore, backers of gay marriage in California say Proposition 22 merely prohibits the state from recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages.

Returning to the ballot may be inevitable, suggests Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Project, a think tank at the University of California at Los Angeles that specializes in sexual orientation law and public policy.

In California, every ''track of society" is immersed in the issue, Sears said.

''You've got competing bills in the Legislature, you've got constitutional challenges in courts, and in 2006 we may have an initiative" that thrust voters squarely back into the debate," Sears said.