Ready To Fight. Florida activists quickly raise $1 million to battle conservatives over gay unions.

A Florida organization, called Florida Red and Blue has raised $1 million to fight a ban on gay marriage. It took only 2 months to raise the significant amount.

Conservatives are pushing for a constitutional amendment to read: ”Inasmuch as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.” Proponents want it to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

Opponents argue the amendment could ruin domestic partnership ordinances in Broward County, Miami Beach, Key West and West Palm Beach. The local ordinances allow both homosexual and heterosexual couples to receive certain advantages typically given to spouses, including hospital visitation rights and health insurance.

Florida Red and Blue has been helped by 375 donors, according to a statement from the group. Some 75 percent of the donations were from Floridians, who contributed anywhere from $2 to $250,000. More than a third of the contributors were self-identified as Republicans.

Pictured: Marty Rouse and Heather Colburn (left) of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) present Board Member Heddy Pena with a $50,000 contribution at a fund raiser in Orlando.