A handful of the nation's wealthiest gay men pumped more than $4.5 million into the campaign against Prop. 8, part of a flood of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender money that accounted for more than half the $38 million raised in the unsuccessful effort to block the same-sex marriage ban in California.

A direct appeal to the community in the final weeks of the campaign brought a surge of new money into the No on Prop. 8 effort, sometimes as much as $1 million a day.

"Most of our major contributors were either gay or regular contributors to LGBT causes," said Steve Smith, who ran the campaign against Prop. 8. "I think we had an extraordinary response from the gay and lesbian community."

Much of that money came from individuals and groups that make no secret of their orientation.

"It's tremendously important for gays and lesbians to be out when they make political contributions," said Michael Fleming, who advises David Bohnett, a Beverly Hills technology entrepreneur.

Bohnett, who gave $1.2 million to the effort to block Prop. 8, is one of a group of wealthy gay men who Time magazine recently suggested were seen as "a kind of secret Super Friends, a homosexual justice league" that moves around the nation spending millions of dollars to support gay and lesbian causes and back candidates who back their views.

While people close to the group collectively winced at the magazine's description of a shadowy group of gay activists styling themselves as "the Cabinet," political finance records show that wealthy gays and their foundations are taking an increasingly public role in the fight for marriage equality and other gay and lesbian issues.

Tim Gill, for example, is a Denver man who founded Quark Inc., a pioneer in the desktop publishing world. Gill, along with his Gill Action Fund, put $720,000 into the No on Prop. 8 campaign. In 2000, Gill gave $250,000 to defeat California's Prop. 22, which banned same-sex marriages in the state until it was overturned by the state Supreme Court in May.

In 2006, the Gill Action Fund also spent $3.7 million in nine states in an unsuccessful effort to block same-sex marriage bans. His foundation also has given $120 million to a variety of nonprofit groups, many of them with links to the gay and lesbian community.

Big-name donors

Jon Stryker, heir to a Kalamazoo, Mich., medical implements fortune, gave more than $1 million to the attempt to defeat Prop. 8. Since 2000, his Arcus Foundation has given more than $50 million to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender causes.

San Francisco philanthropist James Hormel, heir to the meatpacking fortune, gave $300,000 to the fight against Prop. 8. He's also given hundreds of thousands to Democratic Party causes and put money into state and congressional races across the country.

Bruce Bastian, a onetime Mormon who gave $1 million to the anti-Prop. 8 campaign, said that gays and lesbians have to stand up and level the financial playing field if they want to get their message out and gain marriage equality.

"One thing I learned as a Mormon was that preaching costs money," Bastian said in a Chronicle interview in July.

Gay celebrities contributed

There was plenty of money from gay groups and out gays and lesbians. Fred Eychaner, a Chicago businessman, gave $250,000. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres gave $100,000, as did actor T.R. Knight and DreamWorks CEO David Geffen. Former Santa Barbara GOP Rep. Michael Huffington gave $100,000, as did New York City philanthropist Henry van Ameringen and Coral Gables, Fla., businessman Jonathan Lewis.

Gay rights groups like Equality California, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National Gay and Lesbian Task force collected millions in contributions to fight Prop. 8, not all of them from gay and lesbian sources. The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Service Center gave $1 million, while smaller organizations from across the nation chipped in with support.

It wasn't all big donors. San Francisco City Treasurer Jose Cisneros gave $1,000, while former city Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg donated $250. Campaign sources estimated that more than half of No on Prop. 8's 100,000 donors gave less than $100.

Stepping up

The gay and lesbian community was there when it was needed, said Smith, campaign manager for the No side.

In early October, he held an unusual news conference for the gay media only, telling them that the campaign was low on money, sinking in the polls and needed help, fast.

"Two days later, we had our first $1 million (contribution) day and we probably averaged $500,000 a day to the end of the campaign," Smith said. "Though there's no way to know for sure, I'm confident much of that money came from gay and lesbian sources."

That support didn't come as a surprise to Prop. 8 supporters.

"There was a ton of gay money put into the No campaign, although it's hard to say how much because no one asks what your sexual orientation is when you give," said Frank Schubert, political consultant for Prop. 8. "I don't know how that's different from the Mormons and Catholics who gave to us."

Calling for church boycotts

Equality California, which took the lead in the anti-Prop. 8 effort, estimates that Mormons donated as much as $20 million to Prop. 8, while the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal group, gave $1.25 million to the effort and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, $200,000.

Some of the opponents of Prop. 8 have called for a boycott of Mormon-owned businesses and others who gave money to support the ban on same-sex marriage, which is being challenged in court.

People shouldn't be any more surprised that Mormons, Catholics and other religious groups gave money to Prop. 8 than they are that gays and lesbians opened their checkbooks to support it, said Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

"It's the people who are affected who get involved, and you'll always find a few people with deep pockets taking the lead," he said. "Ballot measures are direct democracy at its purest, and when you talk about issues like ... marriage rights, it becomes very personal."