MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four years ago, Frank Schubert was a well-paid political consultant for what he jokingly calls “the forces of evil” — tobacco, timber and pharmaceutical companies — when he agreed to lead the 2008 campaign to repeal gay marriage in California.

What started as a professional challenge has now become a personal crusade. And Schubert, a specialist in political messaging, has become the central figure in a major effort to stop gay marriage from becoming legal across the country.

Part Karl Rove and part Pat Robertson, Schubert is managing four statewide campaigns where the issue is on the ballot in the fall — in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. He’s trying to preserve a winning streak in which conservatives have put anti-gay marriage laws on the books in 31 states since 1998.

But that achievement could be in danger as some national polls show public opinion gradually shifting toward accepting gay marriage. Six states plus the District of Columbia allow it. In Maryland and Washington, governors have signed laws to permit same-sex marriage, but those laws are on hold until the November referendums.

Schubert said his mission to make voters understand what’s at stake.

“Five thousand years have shown that marriage between a man and a woman serves us well,” he said, adding that it is “fundamental to our nature as people.” The alternative, he said, is a culture based on personal desires.

The initiatives this year will feature a collision of well-funded organizations and media efforts as sophisticated as any national political campaign. The National Organization for Marriage, a Washington-based nonprofit supported by conservative donors, is funding Schubert’s effort. Gay rights groups and backers are heavily invested on the other side. The opposing forces are expected to spend up to $20 million in Minnesota alone.

The campaigns will provide a new test of the competing messages about the contentious issue: Do gays deserve the same right to marry as heterosexuals? Or should society allow children to grow up in an environment in which

This article originally appeared on: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-07-20/strategist-is-central-figure-against-gay-marriage