Gay Marriage Activists In Calif. Regain Lead

See Margaret Cho & Selene Luna: Vote No on Prop 8

After several weeks of trailing in the polls and at a financial disadvantage, gay marriage backers in California appear to have regained their lead against Proposition 8 supporters – the ballot initiative that seeks to forbid gay marriage in the state once more.

A new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California reports that 52% of likely voters surveyed opposed Proposition 8 while 44% supported it. But the San Francisco-based institute found a higher percentage of voters opposed to banning gay marriage in September, when 55% of responders said they opposed the measure and 41% favored it.

The new poll was welcome news for gay marriage backers who had been stunned by back-to-back weekly polls showing the gay marriage ban winning – if only by a thin margin. The latest Oct. 17 CBS/SurveyUSA poll showed a majority of voters in favor of the measure 48% to 45%.

Donations to fight the gay marriage ban in Calif. have also dramatically increased over the past several weeks; No-On-8 reported raising $11 million in the first 21/2 weeks of October. And that does not include $3 million in new donations – Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and Hollywood filmmaker George Lucas included.

Apple Corp. announced on Friday it would make a $100,000 donation in support of gay marriage saying, “Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8,” in a statement.

The new donations have helped the No-On-8 campaign erase a $10 million lead held by Prop. 8 supporters. The two groups have raised a combined $60 million to decide the gay marriage issue in California.

Gay Marriage Activists In Calif. Regain Lead
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