San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a social conservative in the liberal Bay Area, is trying to walk a careful line on gay marriage: opposed to same-sex marriage but not ready to declare his position on a constitutional amendment that would ban it.

But on Monday the first-term mayor found himself being blasted by gay rights leaders as "out of step" - a turn of events that illustrates just how difficult the issue is proving to be as Californians choose sides in advance of a November ballot measure.

Reed's travails - which led the normally accessible mayor on Monday to refuse to answer questions from the Mercury News - began Friday when the mayor said during a KPIX (Ch. 5) news report: "I don't support changing the definition of marriage."

Gay rights leaders interpreted the report as the mayor's declaration that he would support the constitutional ban and called it "appalling."