09/10/2007
Schwarzenegger Gets Newly Approved California Gay Marriage Bill
Late on Friday, the California Senate agreed to Assembly amendments to a gay marriage bill by a 22-15 vote and sent the measure to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is expected to veto it, as he did a similar bill two years ago:
"Schwarzenegger has not taken a specific position on AB 43, although he vetoed a similar gay-marriage bill in 2005. His spokesman, Aaron McLear, said the governor will abide by the results of a ballot initiative in which 61.4 percent of voters said the state should restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman."
This bill defines marriage as "a civil contract between two persons" according to the AP, and would "retain the right of religious institutions to refuse to sanction the unions."
Posted 11:00 AM EST by Andy Towle in Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Gay Marriage, News | Permalink
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Well, if the Republicans (and Luntz is certainly no genius or "master", or Ross Perot would have been elected president in '92) were smart enough to figure out that choice of words was important than gay rights advocates should be equally smart at least and pick words that do the most good.
I always thought the "original" Stephen was fake too.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Sep 10, 2007 6:22:32 PM
^^^ than = then
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Sep 10, 2007 6:23:49 PM
"Civil Marriage Equality"
I can't imagine a better or more accurate way to put it.
Posted by: Zeke | Sep 10, 2007 8:40:13 PM
Leland, don't pretend the political Left are not masters of word play. They've been much more successful than Republicans at controlling debate through choice of words.
You can't be naive enough to believe "the Right to Choose" is not a propaganda slogan designed to hide the reality that abortion halts the beginnings of a human being. Ditto using "tissue," "fetus" or "ending pregnancy" and avoiding any mention of "baby" in the debate regardless of trimester.
Many on the Right argue the disuse of "homosexual" is such a debate control effort by co-opting "gay" from its Christmas carroll meaning of cheerful, colorful or lively as in "don we now our gay apparel."
Enough with the bullshit. All sides manipulate language to further their respective agendas. You give Republicans more credit for "success" than they deserve.
Posted by: queendru | Sep 10, 2007 10:23:59 PM
PSGOODGUY: If things have changed in those 7 years it isn't really reflected in CA polls about this issue.
CA has an initiative system. If you want to overturn Prop 22, you just need to gather signatures and put it before the voters and get them to pass it.
Keep in mind I'm not a policy wonk but as I understand it, you can't just have the CA legislature pass a change that contradicts something the voters have passed and since the courts have not struck down Prop 22, Arnold is being the "People's representative" on this issue and vetoing the legislature's, in context, inappropriate action.
Arnold's said many times this is an issue for the courts and voters. Prop 22 is being challenged. His brief, along with the AG's brief, were recently filed in the case. Both said the term "marriage" can be done away with. I'm annoyed when people who don't understand what's going on try to snatch defeat from the jaws of potential victory!
Posted by: queendru | Sep 10, 2007 10:35:27 PM
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
If you really want to help move the Republican party to the left as you say and distance yourself from the religious right and the Bush Administration, you will not veto the Gay Marriage Bill.
It's embarrassing to have this have to happen twice in a state that is known to be progressive get behind a state like Iowa where there are now legally married gay couples. The people have spoken. The government has spoken. The courts have spoken. It’s time for you to take the right action.
I am gay and have some very Republican views on certain issues (financial, business) and if you want any support from any of the GLBT population with similar views you will need to think twice before another veto.
Sincerely,
Jay Larson
San Francisco, CA
(formally from a farm boy from Iowa)
Posted by: J Matthew Larson | Sep 11, 2007 8:54:30 AM
The initiative system in California is a joke and responsible for a whole lot of bad laws. Besides, human rights should not be a popularity constest. Human rights should not be based on the animus (or lack thereof) of the majority.
Posted by: db | Sep 11, 2007 1:30:59 PM
Der Gubernator hails from Austria, also the vaterland of Der Pope, Ratzinger. Schwarzenegger is a bosom buddy of Jörg Haider, founder of the BZO, the Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, a not so neo-Nazi party in Austria. When visiting Austria he and Hitler (sorry Haider, not that there’s much difference) attend dinners and say nice things about each other.
Der gubernator was elected by the ruling rich to give billions to electric power companies in the wake of the Exxon scandal and promptly did so. He's opposed to unions and fair treatment for immigrant workers. He proposed several initiatives in 2006 that would have been serious setbacks for labor unions but unions, spearhead by the militant California Nurses Union, rallied the troops and the initiatives and Schwarzenegger got shot down in flames.
It’s unlikely the Democrats would have passed the same sex marriage bill if it were going to a Democrat governor; nonetheless, we'll take our victories where we can. Schwarzenegger, infamous for calling his gay critics 'girly men', pretends to be a centrist but he’s often forced to hoist his true colors as a rightist.
Posted by: Bill Perdue, RainbowRED Organization | Sep 11, 2007 2:23:00 PM