Calling it a “David versus Goliath” effort, a new group on Thursday announced its statewide campaign to defeat the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

“We’re obviously a new organization that doesn’t have a lot of time to get its feet under it,” said Bradley Kemp, of Lawrence, a spokesman for Kansans for Fairness. “The opposition is pretty well-organized, well-funded, and has a lot of Kansans’ ears. … It looked like the amendment was just going to go sailing through without anyone making a concerted or sophisticated effort to campaign against it.”

Kansans for Fairness formed Feb. 12, shortly after the Kansas House approved putting the amendment to a public vote. But it wasn’t until Thursday that the organization announced it was coordinating and promoting the efforts of grassroots groups in cities across the state, including Salina, Manhattan and Wichita.

“For once you’re going to see kind of a unified message and effort,” said Bruce Ney, of Lawrence, chairman of Kansans for Fairness.

The group is producing a testimonial advertisement featuring the mother of a gay man that will run on the group’s Web site — http://www.kansansforfairness.org/ — and possibly on television.

The campaign will highlight the efforts of organizations around the state, such as a group in Manhattan that’s distributing literature door-to-door and another in Salina that produced a show on the subject for local public-access television.

Ney said the campaign also made contact with a coalition of Baker University students from the group Students Active For Equality. On Thursday, anti-gay minister Fred Phelps, of Topeka, announced he was picketing Baker because of the students’ plan to travel the state during spring break in opposition to the amendment.

Kemp wouldn’t say how much money Kansans for Fairness had raised so far, but he said “we’re not a rich campaign.” Much of the group’s money has come from individual donors, he said, but Human Rights Campaign — a national gay rights organization — has chipped in $1,000.

Kemp said the campaign would appeal to Kansans’ sense of fairness. Another goal is to call attention to the lesser-known “Part B” of the amendment, which prohibits even civil unions, by saying no relationship other than marriage is entitled to the rights of marriage.

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Some attorneys have said the amendment could restrict the rights of unmarried heterosexual couples or prevent private companies from offering insurance benefits to gay employees’ partners.

The amendment goes to a statewide vote April 5.

Scott Hanks, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Lecompton, said he was surprised by the campaign’s use of the David and Goliath story.

“It’s amazing that they want to use a Bible character such as David and Goliath to go against the Bible’s principle that homosexuality is sin,” he said.