[Vision2020] Terminator Will Terminate Gay Rights

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

California Governor to Veto Bill Authorizing Same-Sex Marriage

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 8, 2005; Page A04

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) announced Wednesday 
night that he will veto landmark legislation that would have allowed same-sex 
couples to marry.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the 
governor opposes the legislation, passed Tuesday night by the California 
Assembly and last week by the state Senate, because he thinks the matter should be 
decided by California's courts or its voters.

Schwarzenegger's decision ends the prospects for the Religious Freedom and 
Civil Marriage Protection Act, which passed along strict party lines after an 
impassioned debate in the California Assembly. The measure would have recast the 
state's legal definition of marriage as a union between two people rather 
than a union between a man and a woman.

The vote marked the first time that a state legislature had approved a bill 
authorizing same-sex marriage without a court order. Massachusetts has passed 
regulations allowing gay marriage, but only after state courts ordered it to do 
so.

Gay rights advocates had hailed the Assembly's vote as a victory for civil 
rights and as a sign that California was again setting a trend for the nation to 
follow. Conservative activists said the law underscored the lax morality of 
modern society, and they predicted it would weaken families.

Critics accused Schwarzenegger of dodging an important issue and playing to 
his Republican conservative base. The onetime movie star's popularity has 
sagged to its lowest point since he rolled to power on the back of a recall vote in 
2003.

"The guy has decided he'd rather shore his relationship with a minority 
right-wing base than to behave in a way that's more centrist," said Assemblywoman 
Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), one of six openly gay members of the state 
legislature. "But no right-wing base has ever elected a governor."

Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman defended the governor's position, saying he 
continues to back gay rights, including domestic partnership programs that grant 
same-sex couples most of the rights enjoyed by married couples. She noted that 
in 2000 California's voters expressed their views on the marriage issue, 
passing by more than 60 percent Proposition 22, which defined marriage as being 
between a man and a woman.

Schwarzenegger's move does not end California's fight over the bedroom -- it 
simply moves it back to the courthouse and potentially the ballot box.

Early last year, San Francisco officials declared that Proposition 22 
violated the state's constitution and unilaterally issued marriage licenses to more 
than 4,000 gay couples. The state Supreme Court nullified those unions, citing 
the law. In March, a San Francisco judge hearing lawsuits from activists and 
city officials declared the law unconstitutional, setting the scene for a 
battle that will return to the state's highest court.

In addition, conservative activists are planning a proposition for a June 
2006 election that would ban gay marriage. Another measure would severely curtail 
domestic partnership benefits.

A Field Poll released last week showed Californians to be split on the issue, 
with 46 percent opposing and 46 percent approving of same-sex marriages.

Special correspondent Joe Dignan in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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Vision2020 Post by Ted Moffett
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