SACRAMENTO /Christian Newswire/ — California’s Secretary of State on June 2 certified an initiative that would amend California’s Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The measure will be on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot. If successful, the measure would overturn the recent California Supreme Court decision legalizing "same-sex" marriage.

"The future of marriage in California should be determined among the 36 million residents of the State of California — not by the personal, closed-door deliberation of seven judges," said Rev. Sam Rodriguez, Jr., an Advisory Board Member of the Alliance for Marriage Foundation.
 
The California Supreme Court in May 2008 struck-down the state’s initiative-approved Proposition 22, the California Defense of Marriage Act, which statutorily defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
 
"The response from the people of this state has been unprecedented in support of marriage’s legacy, by responding with an all-out volunteer signature campaign," said Ron Prentice, CEO of the California Family Council and Chairman of the ProtectMarriage.com coalition sponsoring the amendment. "We’re so grateful to the over 1.1 million voters who signed the marriage petition in time for the November election. Passing this amendment is the only way for the people to override the four Supreme Court judges who want to re-define marriage for our entire society."
 
In order to qualify for the ballot, the marriage definition measure needed 694,354 valid petition signatures, which is equal to 8% of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2006 general election. The initiative proponents submitted 1,120,801 signatures in an attempt to qualify the measure, and it qualified through the random sample signature check.
 
"The vast majority of research continues to state that California’s voters favor keeping marriage as it is, protecting its historic definition between only a man and a woman. The November ballot will give opportunity for citizens to respond to the State Supreme Court’s decision, by solidifying traditional marriage in the California Constitution. Californians are a tolerant people. But we also know that marriage is between a man and a woman, as the voters reaffirmed just a few years ago." stated Prentice.