In encouraging news, the Public Policy Institute of California’s most recent poll shows 49 percent of Californians oppose same sex marriage and 45 percent support.  You may recall that the PPIC poll in October 2008 showed Prop. 8 in California losing by a significant margin.  As you may know if you’re reading this post, Prop. 8, which protected traditional marriage in California, won 52 to 48 percent.

My take:  the violent, hateful reaction to Prop. 8’s passage by homosexual rights activists actually hurt their cause.   The scenes of people picketing LDS temples, hurling racial epithets at African-Americans (who overwhelmingly supported Prop. 8 ) and molesting an older lady daring to carry a cross really hit home with some swing voters, who if anything are more supportive of traditional marriage in California than they have been in a decade.

The California Supreme Court in early March heard arguments in favor of overturning Prop. 8, and most observers agreed that the justices seem inclined to let Prop. 8 stand.  I highly recommend Kaimi Wenger’s posts on the Supreme Court discussion, which can be read here.

At least two ballot initiative efforts to overturn Prop. 8 have been started.  Stay tuned for more as these efforts either gather steam or fizzle out.