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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marriage8sep08,0,7314785.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Citing Prop. 22, 
Gov. Rejects Gay Marriage Bill
By Michael Finnegan and Maura Dolan
Times Staff Writers  | Sept 8, 2005


A day after California's Legislature
became the first in the nation to pass a
bill to legalize same-sex marriage, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced through
an aide Wednesday that he would veto the
measure "out of respect for the will of
the people."

In a careful statement, Schwarzenegger
press secretary Margita Thompson invoked
the voter approval in March 2000 of
Proposition 22, which said: "Only
marriage between a man and a woman is
valid or recognized in California."

"The governor believes the matter should
be determined not by legislative action
� which would be unconstitutional � but
by court decision or another vote of the
people of our state," the statement
said. "We cannot have a system where the
people vote and the Legislature derails
that vote."

The statement also said Schwarzenegger
"believes that gay couples are entitled
to full protection under the law and
should not be discriminated against." It
did not offer his opinion on same-sex
marriage, but when asked about it last
year, the governor said, "I don't care
one way or the other."

The California Supreme Court is likely
to decide next year whether Proposition
22 and other state laws that define
marriage are constitutional.

The issue burst into prominence in
California last year when San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom directed officials
there to issue marriage licenses for
same-sex couples. The move drew
thousands of couples to the city for
highly publicized weddings before the
state Supreme Court ruled that Newsom
had exceeded his authority. 

Massachusetts allows same-sex marriages,
but they derived from court order, not
the legislative approval seen in
Sacramento on Tuesday.

In addition to the likely court ruling
on same-sex marriage, the issue may be
headed back to the ballot: Opponents of
gay marriage have been collecting
signatures to qualify measures for the
June 2006 vote that would ban same-sex marriage.

Schwarzenegger's announcement sparked
fierce reactions from advocates on both
sides of the issue. 

"The only reason that he could be doing
this is that he is pandering to the far
right," said Assemblyman Mark Leno
(D-San Francisco), the measure's author.

Karen England of the Capitol Resource
Institute, a Sacramento group that
opposed the bill, said the governor had
"kept his word against the runaway
Legislature�. As a social conservative,
I never thought I'd see the day when I
said I was glad Arnold Schwarzenegger
was the governor."

Although 61% of California voters backed
Proposition 22, recent polls have found
views changing, with the state's voters
now evenly split on same-sex marriage.
That voter ambivalence has made the
issue increasingly perilous for
California politicians � and above all
for Schwarzenegger as he gears up for a
contentious fall campaign on his latest
ballot measures and a probable 2006
reelection bid.

Already hamstrung by dismal popularity
ratings, the Republican governor had
little choice but to veto the
legislation, analysts said. Approval of
the measure would have set off a sharp
backlash among Republican voters, his
strongest remaining bulwark of support.

But while averting a conservative
revolt, Schwarzenegger may have worsened
a key political problem: erosion of his
image as an independent reformer who
stays above partisan politics.

"It will help to define him as just
another Republican, and that's not good
for him in this state," said Gary
Jacobson, a political science professor
at UC San Diego, alluding to
California's strong Democratic tilt.

For some Democrats, too, the Assembly's
final passage of the measure Tuesday
brought risks, as the tight vote
underscored. The measure passed with the
minimum of 41 votes � all from Democrats
� out of 80 members.

Particularly among Democrats seeking
statewide office, support for same-sex
marriage risks galvanizing conservative
opponents and jeopardizing appeals to
some of the centrist voters who dominate
California elections. Opposition could
alienate gay and lesbian activists and
key Democratic liberals.

The issue has been potent. In 11 states
last year, Republicans used initiatives
to ban same-sex marriage to boost
conservative turnout for President Bush
in his race against Massachusetts Sen.
John F. Kerry.

"In states that Kerry had to be
competitive in, he was less competitive
because gay marriage was on the ballot �
starting with Ohio," said Tony Quinn,
co-editor of the California Target Book
election guide.

He likened the Legislature's passage of
the same-sex marriage bill to its
approval in 2003 of driver's licenses
for illegal immigrants. For voters, that
move captured the Legislature's leanings
� more liberal than the statewide
electorate, which booted Gov. Gray Davis
from office, at least in part because of
his approval of the measure.

When Newsom brought the issue front and
center last year, Democratic leaders
were split. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
the state's senior senator, said the
matter was "too much, too fast, too
soon." Sen. Barbara Boxer � then running
for a third term � left her position
vague, saying same-sex marriage should
be left up to the states.

The party dynamics now, however, are far
different. The top Democrats in the
gubernatorial primary next June � state
Controller Steve Westly and Treasurer
Phil Angelides, neither particularly
well known across the state � are
competing for liberal support. Both said
Wednesday that they would have signed
the marriage bill.
"Signing this bill would have moved
California forward on the right side of
history," Angelides said. Westly said
the issue was "solely about respect and
equality � nothing else."

As much as it affects the race for
governor, however, the same-sex marriage
issue could also affect a matter before
voters in November: Proposition 77,
which would strip lawmakers of their
power to draw district maps. Some
campaign strategists said lawmakers'
approval of same-sex marriage could
buttress the case that the safe seats
they drew for themselves have filled the
Legislature with ideologues who can
ignore the popular will.

There is a clear ideological cant to the
issue, according to a poll last month by
the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute
of California.

Overall, it found that 46% of those
likely to vote in November favor
legalizing same-sex marriage, and 46%
oppose it. While 56% of both Democrats
and independents favored same-sex
marriage, 68% of Republicans opposed it. 

Mark Baldassare, research director at
the institute, said Republican
opposition to gay marriage has remained
steadfast over the last five years. But
the spate of gay weddings in San
Francisco, along with the legalization
of same-sex marriage in Canada, Spain
and other countries, appears to have
weakened opposition among Democrats and
independents, he said.
Baldassare, and Democratic analysts,
believe that as a result, same-sex
marriage has joined the list of social
issues such as abortion and gun control
that California voters weigh to take the
conservative measure of a Republican
running for statewide office.
Republicans who take conservative stands
on such issues tend to win party
primaries in the state but run into
trouble in general elections.

Yet given Schwarzenegger's unpopularity
� a Field Poll released this week found
56% of voters not inclined to back him
for reelection � he was all but forced
to veto the same-sex marriage bill. The
survey found that 70% of Republicans
were inclined to support him.

"He is in a world of hurt, and he needs
to find some friends somewhere," said
Democratic strategist Roy Behr. "The
only people left supporting him right
now are the most conservative people in
the state."

Still, the enduring split among voters
on gay marriage was apparent in
interviews around the state Wednesday.

"We already voted against gay marriage
in this state, and it just keeps coming
back," said Marnie Bishop, 34, a
Republican homemaker in the Central
Valley town of Ripon. 

In San Francisco, Armelle Cloche likened
the Legislature's approval of same-sex
marriage to historic civil rights breakthroughs.

"You should be allowed to marry who you
want," she said. "It's not something
that hurts anyone else."

Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times 

--
LP

A little sunlight is the best 
disinfectant," Supreme Court 
Justice Louis Brandeis 
commented. "Never more so 
than when it exposes 
towering hypocrisy."