Frank Schubert and the Fight Against Gay Marriage Matt Roth for The New York Times Frank Schubert, second from left, in a post-meeting prayer. He is leading the campaign against same-sex marriage initiatives in four states. ANNAPOLIS, Md. - In the roiling state-by-state war over same-sex marriage, the campaign against marriage rights has been masterminded largely by one man. Frank Schubert, a former corporate public relations executive, ran the $40 million, come-from-behind push for Proposition 8 in California in 2008. He went on to mount successful campaigns to defeat same-sex marriage in Maine and North Carolina. Now, with marriage initiatives on the ballot in Maryland, Minnesota, Washington State and Maine, Mr. Schubert is the chief strategist in all four at once. Gay rights leaders despise Mr. Schubert, who has devoted himself to the issue in recent years, for what they call his misleading arguments. They have also learned to fear him for messages that are less openly harsh than those voiced by many other opponents of gay rights: a strategy aimed at reassuring the moderate voters who decide such elections that barring gays and lesbians from marriage does not make them bigots. Citing polls showing growing public acceptance and armed with more than $25 million, gay rights leaders hope to win their first ballot victory for same-sex marriage on Nov. 6. But they are bracing for a rush of Schubert-designed television ads in the four contested states. "Everyone has a right to love who they choose," says an ad now running in Minnesota, "but nobody has a right to redefine marriage." Telling voters they are not prejudiced if they vote against same-sex marriage is "diabolically smart and creative," said Fred Sainz, vice president for communications of the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for gay rights. He is putting lipstick on the pig of discrimination. For his part, Mr. Schubert, who has a lesbian sister raising two children in a domestic partnership, says, "It's hurtful to know that many people think I dislike gays and lesbians and wish them harm." He spoke during an interview here in Maryland's capital, where he was making last-minute tweaks to television ads and meeting with local organizers in what seems likely to be a close race. Mr. Schubert expects to spend some $12.5 million over all, with one-third of the total provided by the National Organization for Marriage, the largest private group financing campaigns against same-sex marriage. In Minnesota, the Catholic Conference is providing $1 million. His opponents have raised $25 million so far, a tally that includes $4.4 million from the Human Rights Campaign and a donation of $2.5 million in Washington State from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife. In the six states that permit it, and the District of Columbia, same-sex marriage was mandated by courts or approved by the Legislature. But every time the issue has been on the ballot, in 32 states in a row, voters have come out against same-sex marriage. Thirty states have constitutional amendments defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, and another 11 have laws restricting marriage. "If the other side succeeds this fall, I'm certain that it will open up a whole new front," Mr. Schubert said, predicting that groups in California, Oregon and elsewhere would be emboldened to bring forth public referendums. Mr. Schubert, 56, attended Catholic schools in Sacramento, Calif., where he still lives with his wife. At age 22, he was chief of staff to a Republican assemblywoman. He entered public relations and became known, in the world of political consultants, for winning dozens of issue-oriented ballot campaigns on behalf of corporations: defeating proposals to increase tobacco taxes and to require restaurants to offer health insurance to employees. He had not thought much about the marriage issue, he said, before he was tapped in 2008 to run the Proposition 8 campaign, which was mounted by religious conservatives to override the California Supreme Court decision permitting same-sex marriage. With a budget of $40 million, more than matched by opponents, he mounted a campaign with button-pushing ads.With that victory, Mr. Schubert won national attention, and his life took a sharp turn. "The more I learned about the marriage issue, the more committed I became," he recalled. He threw himself into the cause, teaming with the National Organization for Marriage, which pays him a retainer for strategic advice. Brian S. Brown, the organization's president, praised Mr. Schubert in an interview as "the best in the business." This year, as his activism began to turn off corporate clients, Mr. Schubert left Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the consulting firm he founded in 2003, and started a new one, Mission: Public Affairs, which he says will be entirely devoted to social causes.