A coalition led by gay-rights group Equality California announced today plans to invest more than $15 million in an educational campaign to build support for same-sex marriage.
The three-year effort, Let California Ring, will partner paid advertising with a grassroots community outreach campaign with the goal of "(enabling) hundreds of thousands of Californians to learn first-hand why marriage matters so much to same-sex couples."
"The idea is to have television, radio and other means of delivering a message, combined with on-the-ground field work so there's a a groundbeat of information and discussion of the issue," said. Equality California Marriage Director Marc Solomon. "The more people talk about the issue and get to know gay couples either on TV or in person, the more they come our way."
The campaign will focus on generating support among African-American, Asian Pacific Islander and Latino voters as well as various faith-based communities, according to a press release issued today.
"We're in a state that's majority people of color and that's just a really important place to start," he said, adding that field organizers are "having discussions with older voters, with Republican voters, with all sorts of voters, all sorts of citizens, all sorts of Californians and the idea is to engage them."
The campaign, first launched in 2005, has already spent about $15 million on its efforts. Soloman said the group is still talking to donors about securing the money for the second round of the campaign.
"We know that in order to do the education work and to do media buys that are significant enough we need to raise at a minimum about $15 million, and we're talking to foundations and other funding groups," he said.
Equality California announced earlier this year that it would hold off on an attempt to repeal Prop 8 through the initiative process until 2012, saying a higher projected turnout among young voters, who are more likely to support same-sex marriage, during a presidential election and an extended timeline for educating voters on the issue would give advocates a better shot at legalizing same-sex marriage.
A second coalition that calls itself Love Honor Cherish is pushing to put a measure asking voters to repeal Prop 8 on the 2010 ballot.
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.