2010 Prop 8 Repeal Attempt Fails

The controversial attempt to place a repeal of Proposition 8 on the 2010 California ballot has failed to gather the necessary signatures by the deadline. The repeal attempt had been disavowed by most major LGBT and progressive groups as impossible to achieve before 2012 at the earliest.

"Our signature collection effort may have fallen short, but we stand tall as being the only statewide campaign that fought for repealing Proposition 8 in 2010," Sean Bohac, Chair of the Restore Equality 2010 Statewide Advisory Panel, said in a statement. The group, Restore Equality 2010, had split with Equality California, one of the state's largest gay-rights advocacy groups, on when to put a repeal of the 2008 Proposition 8 on the ballot. EQCA and other groups decided last year to hold off on ballot action until 2012, saying that strategy would allow more time to build support and that the measure would likely fare better during a presidential election year, when more younger voters hit the polls.

Restore Equality says they will now join with the other groups working towards a 2012 ballot measure. Recent polls have shown that for the first time, a majority of Californians now approve of same-sex marriage.