From left to right, Rob Bogard, organizer Amelia Craig Cramer and Arizona Sen. Paula Aboud cheer as they watch the opening minutes of a webcast that was part of a fund-raiser against the proposed measure.

chris coduto / arizona daily star

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PHOENIX — Proponents of a measure to constitutionally define marriage in Arizona as between one man and one woman filed petitions with more than 300,000 signatures Thursday, likely enough to qualify for the ballot — but only if it can survive a court fight.

The initiative would ban same-sex marriages. These are not legal in Arizona and state courts have refused to overturn the law.

Backers say, however, they fear activist judges could change that, or even force Arizona to recognize marriages performed in other states without such restrictions.

But the measure actually would do more — which brings its legality into question.

It also would ban the Legislature or state courts from permitting or recognizing "civil unions," an alternative some states have adopted to recognize same-sex marriages.

And it would overrule practices in communities like Scottsdale, Tempe, Tucson and Pima County, where public employees are offered some of the same benefits for their domestic partners — of the same or opposite sex — that are available to the spouses of married workers.

Opponents of the proposed amendment took part in a statewide webcast by Arizona Together Coalition, a political group organized to protect the rights of unmarried couples regardless of orientation.

The webcast played out in 100 locations across the state, and the event was accordingly named "A Night of 100 House Parties." There were 12 such house parties in Tucson.

Lisa Hauser, an attorney who has been retained by foes of the measure, said the proposed amendment violates rules that limit constitutional amendments to a single subject. She said that is designed to ensure that voters who want one provision are not forced to accept another that they do not favor.

"There is certainly one level of support for a ban on gay marriage," Hauser said. "It appears that there is much less support for taking away domestic partner and similar kinds of benefits."

But Nathan Sproul, a consultant to the ballot campaign, said he is not worried.

"This initiative was written anticipating that kind of a legal challenge from the opposition," he said.

Leo Godzich, president of the National Association of Marriage Enhancement, said there is a legitimate reason for the constitution to be amended to do more than simply make same-sex marriages illegal.

"We're protecting the traditional definition of marriage," he said.

"Marriage has value to society. And that's why society ascribes value to marriage," Godzich said. "So anything that is not a true marriage denigrates the traditional definition of marriage."

Godzich said that restricting things like insurance benefits for public employees to their legally married spouses is not elitist.

In Tucson's Sam Hughes neighborhood, opponents of the proposed measure gathered Thursday night at the home of Amelia Craig Cramer for the night's webcast and fund-raiser.

The party of about 25 people was largely a political affair, and the webcast set the goal of raising $2.7 million for Arizona Together.

Cramer is Pima County's chief deputy attorney, and she said the party reflected her personal views and not her public position.

Cramer has a daughter and a partner, and she talked about how the proposed amendment would cut across her life, ending shared health benefits, her right to visit her partner in the hospital and essentially not recognizing her family.

"(It's a lack of) recognition of the fact that lesbian and gay families exist," she said.

Also attending was Cramer's neighbor Laura Zaer. Not a politician, Zaer said she attended because "there is no need to protect marriage."

The potential fallout of the proposed amendment also concerned her, and she noted that unmarried heterosexual couples could also lose domestic benefits.

"It affects more than just the gay and lesbian community," she said. "Marriage is a safe institution."