Tyne Daly, Amy Brenneman, Christine Lahti, Sally Kirkland and other stars speak in favor of keeping marriage legal in California
Anti-gay advocates of Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to amend the California Constitution to make marriage illegal for gay men and women, are winning the funding race:
The campaigns for and against Proposition 8 have raised a combined $30 million, with donations given in support of the proposed ban on gay marriage running considerably ahead of those to the opposition.
So far, the main group promoting the Constitutional amendment, which would overturn a recent California Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, has raised $17.8 million. The main No-on-8 campaign has raised $12.4 million.
While much of the anti-gay funding comes from activists outside the state, a new Field poll shows that opposition to Prop 8 is growing, as support among California residents for keeping marriage legal increases:
Fifty-five percent of voters indicated they would say no to the proposed amendment, which would make same-sex marriage illegal in California. That is up from 51 percent opposing the measure, Proposition 8, in a previous poll conducted in July. In the sampling of more than 800 likely voters, only 38 percent said they would support the ban, down from 42 percent nearly three months ago.
“Initiatives that are trailing, either at the initial measurement or in subsequent measures, rarely pass,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, also noting that opinions on issues like same-sex marriage tend not to fluctuate dramatically. “History is working against passage.”
Two of the state’s highest profile residents, Brad Pitt and Stephen Speilberg, along with his wife Kate Capshaw, have each donated $100,000 to groups supporting marriage in the past few days. Also, stars of the one-hour drama, “Judging Amy,” which ran from 1999 to 2005, have participated in a web ad (see above) voicing support for marriage rights. “Amy” stars Amy Brenneman, Tyne Daly and openly gay Jillian Armenante and her wife are featured in the ad, along with Christine Lahti, Camryn Manheim, Sally Kirkland and others in speaking out against Prop 8.
A considerable amount of contributions from homophobes has come from Mormons. However, one very high profile ex-LDSer recently donated $1 million to the fight to keep marriage legal:
WordPerfect co-founder Bruce Bastian … gave a whopping $1 million to the Human Right Campaign’s “No on Prop. 8″ committee.
“The LDS Church has no business stepping their big nose in something that’s a legal matter, not a religious matter… Constitutions are meant to protect minorities - not to take rights away from people.”
– WordPerfect founder Bruce Bastian
Bastian, a former Mormon and openly gay man, said he, too, was prompted by the LDS Church to donate - but to the other side. He gave a more modest $5,000 check to the cause in May, but upped the ante in July after the church issued a formal statement, backing the ballot measure.“The LDS Church has no business stepping their big nose in something that’s a legal matter, not a religious matter,” Bastian said. “Constitutions are meant to protect minorities - not to take rights away from people.”
Both sides in the battle are readying television ads for launching later this week. How much do the groups need to raise for advertising in California’s media markets? A lot more than they have, so far:
The weekly cost of a statewide television campaign intended to ensure that typical California viewers would see a spot seven to 10 times is about $3.5 million to $5 million.
That’s about $25 million each to cover the weeks between now and November 4.
