Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban Tight battle over Prop. 8 highlights differences in geography, age, religion, race and ideology

Brian Hutchison (L) and James Schardin join other people gathered at the Jones United Methodist Church to participate in a worship and panel discussion about marriage equality on October 18, 2008 in San Francisco, California. (Photograph by David Paul Morris / The Chronicle) less Brian Hutchison (L) and James Schardin join other people gathered at the Jones United Methodist Church to participate in a worship and panel discussion about marriage equality on October 18, 2008 in San ... more Photo: David Paul Morris, The Chronicle Photo: David Paul Morris, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

Nearly 100 people gathered in a deserted parking lot under a gray Central Valley sky, ready to knock on doors and tell perfect strangers why they should vote to ban same-sex marriage in California.

"Just be friendly and say what you know is important," Bill Doughty, a volunteer organizer for the Yes on 8 campaign, told the crowd.

Stockton is only 90 miles east of San Francisco, but the Central Valley is worlds apart from coastal California, and the tight ballot battle over same-sex marriage highlights the distinction.

"There's an increasing divide between the coastal view of the political world and the Central Valley's view, and you can see that in Proposition 8," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "But the same-sex marriage question splits voters in a lot of ways, by party, by religion, by age, by region."

In a Field Poll in June that showed Prop. 8 losing statewide, only 37 percent of likely voters in California's voter-rich coastal counties were backing the same-sex marriage ban, compared with 54 percent in the less-populous inland section of the state. In the Bay Area, the center of the nation's gay rights movement, support for the measure skidded to 26 percent.

Those numbers might have changed slightly since the summer. Some recent polls showed the race tightening after a flood of TV ads by proponents of the measure.

While opponents of the initiative are holding events in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and Guerneville, it's no coincidence that a weeklong bus trip by Prop. 8 supporters is making stops in Chico, Bakersfield, Indio (Riverside County) and Modesto.

'Yes' bus visits Oakland

At the bus tour's lone Bay Area stop, in East Oakland on Tuesday, about 100 sign-waving supporters heard from campaign officials and local black ministers speaking in front of a bus decorated with ads running the length of the vehicle urging people to "Say 'I Do' to Traditional Marriage."

"This is not about taking away rights from anyone," said Frank Schubert, campaign consultant for the Yes on 8 campaign. "It's about standing up for rights."

Opponents of the measure are putting out a different message.

Stephanie Stolte of Turlock (Stanislaus County), an organizer for a Unitarian Universalist group that is part of the "No on 8" coalition, is asking clergy from Lodi to Fresno to sign on to the effort to block the same-sex marriage ban, which she describes as "a blatant attempt to rob (people) of their fundamental rights and freedoms."

She also has put together a small Modesto phone bank that calls undecided voters two days a week, urging them to oppose Prop. 8. Stolte and other phone bank operators recognize the demographic differences that are driving the debate.

Martina Virrey, a Stockton organizer with the "No on Prop. 8" effort, has five to 10 people making calls one night a week. Her callers are targeting what she says are the "young, occasional voters" who might show up on election day to vote for Democrat Barack Obama for president but who also are likely to vote against Prop. 8.

"I think age has a lot to do with how people will vote on Prop. 8," she said. "Many young voters in our area feel they need more information, but once we explain Prop. 8 to them, they tell us, 'Of course I'm voting no on that.' "

Families, friends disagree

That's not the way Myrna Elias, a 29-year-old student from Stockton, sees it.

"A lot of friends had a hard time coming out to their parents and others, and I'm sympathetic to what they went through," she said. "But I can still love those persons and still be for Prop. 8."

Religion plays a major role in the Central Valley's campaign against same-sex marriage, which isn't surprising when much of the financial and volunteer support for Prop. 8 has come from churches across the state. Nearly two-thirds of likely voters who identify themselves as evangelical Christians back the same-sex marriage ban, the Field Poll showed.

"Proposition 8 doesn't promote or support hate," said Rebecca Whitman, a Stockton mother of five. "We're putting out the word of God."

Ken Boyd, a volunteer organizer for the Yes on 8 campaign from Kerman (Fresno County), said he had more than 3,500 volunteers working from Porterville (Tulare County) to Modesto - but he estimated that the coalition of church groups provided nearly twice as many.

The volunteers have either visited or called about 80 percent of the registered voters in that part of the Central Valley, with promising results, Boyd said.

"We're not seeing the type of opposition we would in San Francisco," he said.

The demographic split doesn't mean that Prop. 8 doesn't have supporters on the coast or that the Central Valley isn't home to voters who believe strongly that marriage should be a right for all Californians.

Dems seek opposition

The state Democratic Party is against Prop. 8, and party groups including the Young Democrats of America are knocking on doors in the Central Valley, looking to drum up opposition to the initiative.

"We're pleased with what we're seeing," Virrey said. "We're going out with 'No on 8' signs to busy intersections in places like Tracy, Manteca and Stockton and seeing lots of people honk and wave."

Ron Heinzen, an engineer from Stockton, is a Prop. 8 supporter who has put in his time on the streets, making his pitch each weekend through half-opened doors to people who don't always want to see him there.

On a recent Saturday, he made his way through a down-at-the-heels Stockton neighborhood, talking to people who weren't registered, weren't voting or had already had cast mail ballots against Prop. 8.

But there were others who listened to his talk, took the campaign brochure and promised to vote for Prop. 8.

Heinzen said the last time he went door-to-door was eight years ago when he walked for Prop. 22, a law that banned same-sex marriage in California. When the state Supreme Court overturned that initiative earlier this year, he knew he had to work to pass Prop. 8, a constitutional amendment that would trump the court ruling.

"I just want to get the message out," he said.

Focus on black churches:Proposition 8's supporters and opponents seek backing from a critical voting bloc. A11