(San Francisco, California) Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in California are using San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in a new ad campaign.

“This door’s wide open now,” Newsom says in the clip used at the beginning of the ad. “It’s going to happen, whether you like it or not.”

The commercial goes on to claim that if the amendment fails people would be sued for their beliefs, churches that refuse to marry gay couples would their tax-exempt status, and that elementary school children would be taught about same-sex marriage.

The ad buy cost the group supporting Proposition 8 $10 million.

Newsom called the commercial “classic distraction” and misleading.

“These people make their careers attacking people like me,” Newsom told The Los Angeles Times. “This effort is so much bigger than me. It is about real people. It is about denying people their civil right.”

Yes-on-8 campaign manager Frank Schubert told The Times that the ad underscores the “arrogance” of same-sex marriage proponents.

Last week, opponents of the amendment released their first TV commercials featuring an elderly man and wife who urge voters to not eliminate their gay daughter’s right to marry.

Sam and Julia Thoron, of San Francisco, say in the commercial that they have been married for 46 years and have raised three children.

“My wife and I never treated them differently,” said Sam Thoron in the spot. “We never loved them any differently, and the law shouldn’t treat them differently either.”

The commercial is being aired on television stations throughout the state.

Recent polls California voters are likely to reject the proposed amendment. A Field Poll last week found that only about 38 percent of likely voters would support the measure.

After Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples the state took the mayor to court arguing he had overstepped his authority and the California Supreme Court agreed. As a result the more than 8,000 marriages that had been performed were declared void. 

The ruling, however, did not directly address the issue of the constitutionality of the state ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT civil rights activists began a separate court action challenging the prohibition.

In May, the court court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to wed violated the California constitution.

Conservative groups began collecting enough signatures for the ballot measure.  It will appear on the November ballot.

Since then, according to state records, supporters of Prop 8 have raised $17.8 million. Opponents of the measure have brought in $12.4 million. Much of the money on both sides has come from out-of-state.