Like many teenagers in North Dakota, Sara Berger has a mom who is a good cook. She says dinners are fairly typical at her house, with one notable difference -- her other mom does the dishes.

Berger is a pretty 16-year-old who is a good student at Mandan High School. She has a boyfriend, friends, a job and two lesbian moms who she likes to play rummy with. She says she's living proof that children of same-sex unions can turn out just as normal as children with heterosexual parents.

"People in favor of the marriage amendment often argue that it is in "children's best interests" to have both a mom and a dad, and that if the marriage amendment wasn't passed, it would jeopardize children and the sanctity of marriage," Berger said. "I'm here to say that it wouldn't."

Berger, along with a half-dozen others, spoke out Tuesday against the proposal to place an amendment to the North Dakota constitution on the ballot that would define marriage in the state as between a man and a woman, exclusively.

A coalition of gay, lesbian, bisexual and human rights advocacy groups announced the "Decline to Sign" campaign Tuesday, urging "fair-minded" North Dakotans to refuse to sign petitions circulating in the state that would place the amendment on the November ballot.

But the director of the North Dakota Family Alliance said Tuesday that the group fully expects to collect the 25,688 signatures it needs to place the amendment on the ballot before the Aug. 3 deadline. Christina Kindel said the issue should appear on the ballot so North Dakotans can decide for themselves how marriage should be defined in the state.

"It is not unfair to say that the people of North Dakota should have the right to vote on something as fundamental as marriage," she said. "Democratic process should decide the definition of marriage. Who could have a problem with North Dakotans simply having the right to vote on this issue?"

She also said same-sex unions rob children like Berger of a chance to have a father.

"We do not claim that two homosexual moms can't be very loving, but we don't have any social research that shows us yet that kids need two loving moms," she said. "We have a lot of social research that shows that kids do need one mom and one dad."

Berger said that in her case that simply wasn't true. Her moms are great parents, she said.

"I think heterosexual parents can be great," she said. "But I wouldn't ask for a different family, for heterosexual parents, any day."

Organizers of the "Decline to Sign" campaign say the proposed amendment is discriminatory.

"The U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of our 50 states are meant to protect rights and especially not to deny rights to a minority simply because the majority may believe it is justified in doing so," said Robert Uebel, chairman of Equality North Dakota. "Make no mistake about it, we are being asked to legitimize discrimination under the guise of 'protecting' marriage and children."

In the North Dakota constitution, marriage is already defined as a union between a man and a woman. But Kindel said the proposed amendment is needed to make sure it stays that way, so gay-rights activists don't influence a Massachusetts-like situation in North Dakota, where judges reinterpret the law to allow same-sex marriages.

"All homosexuals have all the basic civil rights, our campaign is simply to make it so that marriage remains between one man and one woman as our state constitution already upholds," she said.

Activists say they wish the North Dakota constitution could be changed all together, but for now they are concentrating their efforts on making sure the proposed amendment doesn't make it on the ballot.

"Of course we would like to see, ultimately, same-sex marriage legalized across the whole country," Uebel said.

Right now, however, activists say they are up against an atmosphere of fear and bigotry in the state. Gov. John Hoeven has publicly stated his support of the federal marriage limit, and others who might otherwise be in support of the alliance's cause are afraid to speak out, they say.

"Let's face it: We are a hot potato in North Dakota politics," Uebel said. He read a statement in support of the alliance from state Rep. Mary Ekstrom, a Democrat from District 11 in Fargo. But he said no other politicians had publicly offered support for the cause yet.

Being ridiculed for supporting gay rights is something Berger, unlike lawmakers, said she doesn't really have a choice about. She's "out of the closet" about her moms. Whispered comments like, "I told you she was a lesbian" and the popular put-down, "That's so gay" are snippets she often hears at school.

"Everybody automatically assumes that just because my moms are gay, I'm gay," she said. "There's all this whispering, 'I told you she was gay.' But I'm not. That has to come from somewhere. Hate is learned, people aren't born with it."