SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s largest gay rights group has decided against trying to repeal the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex unions next year.

Equality California announced Wednesday that it would not lead a campaign in 2012 to undo Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that limited marriage to a man and a woman five months after the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages.

Executive Director Roland Palencia says that with polls showing voters still divided and a court challenge that could overturn the measure pending, the time is not right to undertake a risky and expensive ballot fight.

Instead, Equality California plans to devote its resources to a public education and messaging campaign it hopes will counter beliefs that allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry harms children.

Proposition 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008.

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