Chinese Christians in the San Francisco Bay Area rally support to oppose the AB 19, the bill to legalize same sex marriage in the state of California, which will hold its final vote tomorrow on June 3.

Yesterday, late Thursday, the bill was defeated in the third vote in the Assembly, killing any chance for such a bill to be placed on the state's ballot.

In the first two votes starting late Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled Assembly fell six votes short of the 41 votes needed for a majority backing. The bill was backed by Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco, who is openly gay.

The last vote was cast on Thursday night - a day ahead of the Friday deadline to pass. The vote was 37-36 -- four votes short of passing.

Currently, Leno made a parliamentary move to hold the vote in the open. He is gathering support among the 8 assemblymen who abstained from the vote. There are only six votes left for Leno.

Rev. Thomas Wang, President of the Great Commission Center International and also of Christian Social Endeavor Foundation, stated in a newsletter sent to Chinese Christian leaders around the San Francisco bay to protect traditional marriage:

"Moses met Pharaoh more than 10 times to tell Pharaoh the Word of God, and free the Israelites into the desert to worship God. Through many hardships, he finally led Israelites out of the land living as slaves to enter Canaan.

"Today, the church is like the spokesman of God for the world, and we have the responsibility to tell the Word of God to the people who disbelieve. In the whole history beginning from Genesis, God never tolerated a homosexual society. Unfortunately, today the World and America is going into this path of ruin.

"We, the Chinese American Christian churches have the responsibility to learn from Moses, and tell the message of our high God to the legislatives and executives and call this country to abandon its sin, and return to God."

Rev. Wang urges all Chinese Christian leaders to call the following assemblymen telling them to vote "NO" on the AB 19 before it passes and is handed over to the Senate.

Three of the eight assemblymen amidst the decisive battle are still actively taking calls and opinions from residents in and out of their districts. Their numbers are as follows:

Alberto Torrico (916) 319-2020 and/or (510) 440-9030

Simon Salinas (831) 759-8676

Gloria McCleod (909) 621-2783