[Mb-civic] California Governor to Veto Bill Authorizing Same-Sex Marriage - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702020.html
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