San Francisco ? California gay rights activists are at odds over when to ask voters to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage ban, with one of the largest groups saying it needs until 2012 to put together a winning campaign and two others saying they plan go to the polls next year.

For months, organizers have been weighing the best strategy for gaining back marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples following their devastating loss last fall, when voters passed Proposition 8 banning same-sex nuptials just months after the California Supreme Court ruled to allow them.

Outrage at the defeat caused gay rights activists to spill into the streets, their anger galvanizing supporters in California and elsewhere to push forward.

Yet at the same time, a rift developed among California activists, with critics claiming the failed “No on 8” campaign had focused too intensely on liberal enclaves along the coast and did not effectively reach more conservative areas of the state, or minorities.