Petitions to ban same-sex marriages will be filed Wednesday

Sandra Chereb

Wednesday, June 14, 2000 | 2:47 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Organizers of a proposed constitutional ban against same-sex marriages in Nevada will file signatures gathered in a statewide petition drive on Thursday.

The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage said the petitions will be filed at 10 a.m. at the county clerk or voter registrar offices in each of Nevada's 17 counties.

Richard Ziser, coalition president, said the group has collected "significantly more" than the minimum 44,009 petition signatures needed.

Once filed, election officials will check the validity of signatures to make sure the initiative qualifies for the November general election ballot.

In order for the amendment to take effect, a majority of voters would have to approve it this year and again in 2002.

State law already bars gay marriage in Nevada. But initiative backers argue the more stringent constitutional prohibition is needed to keep same-sex unions performed in other states from being recognized here.

"We need to be clear that we will not recognize same-gender marriages performed in another state," said Ziser, president of Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas. "Homosexuality is a sin."

The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage is heavily supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members were central to antigay marriage efforts in Hawaii and Alaska, and most recently, in California.

Opponents of the measure say they will fight to defeat it.

"We're gearing up for a two-year battle," said Bob Fulkerson, state director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

The alliance is a nonprofit organization that supports the Coalition for Unity, a group working to counter the efforts of petition backers.

"We're gearing up for a two-year battle. We didn't choose this fight, but have no doubt, we're in it for the long run," Fulkerson said. "This is about discrimination. It's not about the sanctity of marriage."