As Massachusetts prepares to sanction same-sex weddings, a bill to further block them in South Carolina is gaining strong backing in the House.

The proposal is picking up steam just as S.C. gays and lesbians plan four events next week to raise public awareness of “marriage equality.”

Rep. Marty Coates, R-Florence, said the bill he filed Tuesday is “pro-marriage.” He denies it is antigay.

Coates said the bill has “40 plus” sponsors in the 124-member House, including the speaker and Democrats.

Coates said a 1996 law that limits marriage to a union between a man and a woman does not go far enough.

“It was simply an attempt to restrict anyone from claiming recognition as a married couple if, in fact, they are of the same sex,” Coates said Friday. “I think there will be those who will see this as an attack on individual rights.”

Coates declined to discuss his views on gays and lesbians. “This is a legal issue,” he said.

The bill seeks to deny same-sex couples benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy and would refuse to recognize same-sex unions that other states sanction.

“The legislation is clearly antigay,” said Candace Challew-Hodge, a Sumter businesswoman who considers herself married to her partner of three years.

“He’s denying me the right that every heterosexual has, that is, the right to create a family of choice,” Challew-Hodge said.

“I think it’s a shame when a legislative body uses its powers to legislate discrimination instead of legislating freedoms.”

She and her partner, Wanda Challew-Hodge, already had planned to seek a marriage license next week in Richland County.

They doubt one will be issued, but it’s part of several events intended to bring attention to the gay marriage issue, Candace Challew-Hodge said.

If the bill becomes law, it would be similar to laws in the days when the state banned interracial marriages, she said.

South Carolina’s 1895 constitution outlawed marriage between blacks and whites. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned all such bans in 1967.

But South Carolinians did not remove the interracial marriage ban from their constitution until 1999 after a 1998 referendum.

Only Alabama took longer.

Ed Madden of the S.C. Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement also considers the bill antigay. But he would not say whether opponents will organize to fight it.

Madden, a USC English professor who also plans to seek a marriage license next week, said he’s disturbed by the bill’s attempt to override legally sanctioned unions in other states.

“Our state feels the need to tell other states and its citizens that they don’t deserve to be treated that way ... more equitably,” Madden said.

The Legislature should be spending time dealing with the budget crisis, he said.

Supporters of the bill also are ignoring that South Carolina has at least 7,600 same-sex households, Madden said.

The 2000 census listed same-sex households in every county, he said. The numbers likely are much higher because those counted are only the couples willing to declare their relationship publicly.

The bill states the benefits ban would not extend to private businesses that chose to provide benefits to same-sex employees. Coates said it is not clear how that would affect companies that do business with state government.

Coates said he won’t predict how the state Senate would respond to his proposal. Gov. Mark Sanford’s staff made no commitment to back it, Coates said.

“In the House, I don’t see a lot of opposition to it.”

Coates said it is coincidence he filed his bill the same day that Massachusetts’ highest court cleared the way for same-sex marriage there as soon as May.

On Friday, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed the country’s strictest “defense of marriage” law, making Ohio the 38th state formally to define marriage as between a woman and a man.

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com.