The moment has arrived. The battle is on.

Yesterday, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that the effort to pass a constitutional initiative to ban marriage for same sex couples in California has qualified for the November ballot.

The measure would attempt to revise the California constitution to only recognize marriages “between a man and a woman.”

Our challenge is clear. Those who oppose the dignity of our love and relationships are determined to deny us the fundamental freedom, fairness and equality we have worked so hard to achieve. We must get Californians to vote “No,” and it all starts with you.

Join our coalition at Equality For All to fight this initiative. Click here and sign the pledge. “Vow To Vote No” today!

In just 14 days, same-sex couples will be able to legally marry. So many loving couples are already planning weddings and celebrations for June 17.

It will be a wonderful day for same-sex couples and every person who values equality for all.

We will defeat this initiative one voter at a time. Stand up with Equality For All and take a public “Vow To Vote No.” Click here to sign the pledge now!

A loss in November will dramatically slow, if not halt, progress toward full equality for LGBT Americans.

We cannot let that happen. Please take the “Vow To Vote No” and then forward this message to your friends and family. Talk with them. Tell them why the freedom to marry is important to you. And ask them to join you and take the “Vow To Vote No.”

We can win this campaign if we all dig deep and contribute what we can. As we have demonstrated time and time again: working together we can ensure fundamental freedom, fairness, and equality for all.

This is it. We need you to act now. No more dress rehearsals.

With just a few weeks left to qualify, well-funded anti-LGBT organizations are paying people to gather signatures to put a constitutional initiative on the November 2008 ballot that would permanently exclude same-sex couples from marriage in California.

API Equality and a broad network of national and state organizations are working with the Equality for All campaign to educate Californians and encourage them not to sign onto this discriminatory and destructive petition. This is really coming down to the wire. They claim to have 881,000 signatures out of the 1.1 million they need. We have the proponents of this amendment on the run and we can keep this off the ballot if we all get out there NOW.

Can we count on you to help stop this attack on our community? If you would like to volunteer, please visit www.equalityforall.com and join the “Rapid Response” team. Please sign up today!

The anti-LGBT folks are at it again! They’ve recently hired signature collectors to circulate a petition that would ban marriage equality in California’s state constitution. Although they’ve threatened to place an anti-marriage equality measure on the ballot for years now, they actually have the money to back up their effort this time. API Equality will be coordinating with the broader statewide Equality for All campaign to counter any such measure.

In the meantime, there is something that you can do immediately to help — paid signature gatherers are already out collecting signatures, and we need people to watch for them as they are shopping. Visit your nearest Target, for example. If people are gathering signatures, go up and talk to them. Professional signature gatherers typically have no stake in the issues, so they’ll be happy to talk with you. Be friendly, walk up to them, and ask if they are collecting signatures for a marriage measure.

If they say yes, say, “Oh, great! May I look at it?” Then read it and get a sense of what it is. Then go further and ask the signature gatherers how it’s going, how much they are getting paid for the marriage measure petition, and how does that compare with what they’re getting paid for the others. Gatherers are typically very happy to provide this kind of info. Also, note whether they are also collecting signatures for the parental notification measure. Once you have done this, make notes so you won’t forget.

If you have anything to report, especially from areas with high API or immigrant populations, please e-mail Andy Wong at awong [at] caasf [dot] org.

Please stay tuned for other ways you can get involved!