Gay rights advocates plan effort in early voting states, including Nevada

DES MOINES -- Gay rights advocates on Thursday kicked off an effort to prevent religious conservatives from pressuring candidates to oppose gay-rights issues.

North Carolina-based Faith In America is heading the campaign, which is focusing on Nevada, Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. All of the states have early presidential caucuses or primaries.

Members of the group, who spoke with reporters in a conference call, said they want to set the tenor for the looming presidential campaign and not cede the debate to religious conservatives.

"The end point will be when we have various religious leaders not trying to intimidate various presidential candidates," said Mitchell Gold, head of the group.

The group will run newspaper ads in Ames on Sunday, and plans a town hall meeting in Ames on May 31. Similar efforts are planned in the other early-voting states.

Organizers of the effort said they planned grass- roots organizing, direct mail and paid advertisements in traditional media in those states.

Gay rights issues have been prominent in Iowa this year. During the recently ended legislative session, lawmakers worked to protect students from being bullied because of their sexual orientation, and they added gays and lesbians to the list of people protected under the state's civil rights laws.

"Today marks an important day in the shared history of America's religious and (gay) communities," said Jimmy Creech, executive director of Faith in America. "For a long time we've stood on separate sides of an impasse."

Steve Scheffler, head of the Iowa Christian Alliance, said his group would continue letting candidates know it opposed expansion of gay rights.

"It is a defining issue," Scheffler said. "Those are going to be some of the issues we are going to cover.

"You bet it's a big thing."