Petition to ban gay marriage hits ballot

Friday, July 7, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages in Nevada has qualified for the ballot in November, the secretary of state's office said today.

The office said the petition qualified in 16 of the 17 counties by mid-morning. Although results were not in from the final county, Eureka, the petition needed to qualify in only 13 of the 17 counties.

The raw count of signers was 120,558 while only 44,009 signatures were needed. It also had to gather signatures from 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the 17 counties.

Richard Ziser, head of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, said he anticipated the question qualifying for the ballot. Now the job will be persuading those 120,000 signers to vote this November, he said.

So far, he said, he has not seen any organized strong opposition. But he said the foes were probably waiting to see if the petition qualified.

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a nonprofit organization, has announced its opposition.

"Clearly, we're not expecting any miracles for November, but we do plan on mounting a strong campaign against it," Bob Fulkerson, state director of the alliance, said.