And jumping headlong into the same-sex marriage issue at the outset of the federal election campaign did little to bolster Harper's image among gay voters.

"I'm from Alberta originally, and my family is there," Doug Kerr, 38, said recently as he drank coffee with friends in Toronto's gay community.

"They're Conservative (supporters), but they're pro same-sex marriage. I think they're having second thoughts about Harper," said Kerr. "There are more important issues in Canada, and it's a real shame that it had to be raised. It may have lost him votes."

With the election buses barely heated up, Harper opened the election campaign Nov. 29 by vowing a Conservative government would allow a free vote in the Commons on restoring the traditional definition of marriage.

The statement thrust back into the spotlight an issue that pundits say cost Harper dearly in the 2004 election, especially in vote-rich Ontario.

Gay, lesbian and transgendered communities across Canada went on high alert. "The initial (reaction) was total paranoia in my circles," said Michael Hendricks, a Montreal gay-rights activist who married his longtime partner Rene Lebeouf in 2004.

While Harper, if elected, would allow a free Commons vote on the definition of marriage, he promised not to challenge the 3,000 gay marriages already in place in Canada nor invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to overturn the law.

Given that, experts say it's unlikely a Tory government could revoke rights already granted by lower courts when they ruled the traditional definition of marriage was discriminatory.

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