No Gay Marriage Vote Likely in California in 2010

The wheels have been coming off the gay marriage bandwagon all over the country, and the people who thought they would repeal the Prop 8 ban in California are rethinking things:

It's looking less likely that California voters will take up the issue of gay marriage in 2010.

Some gay rights activists planned to ask voters next year to repeal Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage that voters approved last year. But this week, a key organization backing the 2010 effort said it needed more time to develop a successful campaign.

A Los Angeles Times/USC poll released in November found a small majority of California voters supports the right of gay couples to marry, but a much larger portion of voters opposes efforts to place the issue on the ballot in 2010.

Views on same-sex marriage were sharply polarized based on political party, with 66% of Democrats thinking it should be legal and 71% of Republicans in opposition. Nonpartisan voters were less enthusiastic than Democrats but still backed it, 59% to 34%.

Overall, 51% of California voters favored marriage rights for same-sex couples and 43% were opposed. Strikingly, however, almost 60% of Californians did not want to revisit the issue in 2010, just one election cycle after it last hit the ballot.

The Courage Campaign, a leading civil rights group, announced it was going to focus on repealing Proposition 8 beyond 2010. That leave several smaller groups with the tough task of collecting signatures for a 2010 ballot measure.

Maine voted against it in November and just yesterday the New York State Senate killed a gay marriage bill in that state. Whatever momentum the gay marriage activists thought they had has clearly disappeared and chances are an attempt in California to repeal Prop 8 would have failed. Voters are clearly tired of the issue and would like it to go away for awhile. There are more important things to do.