Leading the local opposition to the court decision are a pair of Southern California businessmen, Howard Ahmanson, owner of Fieldstead & Co and Christian radio magnate Ed Atsinger. Both are evangelical Christians according to a May 27 report from Capital Weekly, a newspaper that covers California’s state government.

But a virtual who’s who of familiar right wing social conservative organizations have also converged on California and are making the overturning of the California court decision a priority. "There are a number of national religious right groups that are lending their resources to this effort," said Peter Montgomery, spokesperson at the People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington DC.

"Many of these groups have their own networks of pastors and churches that agree with them on a number of social issues, and one of those happens to be gay rights," he said.