Arnold Vetoes Gay Marriages

SACRAMENTO, CA -- As feared, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has followed up on his promise to veto a landmark bill passed by state legislators which would have legalized same-sex marriage in California.

In his veto message, the Republican governor said he vetoed the measure "because I do not believe the Legislature can reverse an initiative approved by the people of California." Proposition 22, an initiative passed in 2000, defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who wrote the bill, said he was disappointed. "The governor has failed his test of leadership and missed a historic opportunity to stand up for the basic civil rights of all Californians," Leno said. "He cannot claim to support fair and equal treatment for same-sex couples and veto the very bill that would have provided it to them."

"This is a governor who ran as a progressive Republican, a socially moderate Republican, and this is just about politics. He's playing with people's lives for political gain," said Thom Lynch, leader of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Center. "Words alone don't mean a lot."

Gay rights leaders believe the veto will motivate gay and lesbian voters to come out against the governor's initiatives in the special election scheduled for November.

More than 3,400 gay couples got married in San Francisco after the city's mayor decided to defy state law and allow gay weddings in 2004. The California Supreme Court eventually ruled that the mayor had exceeded his authority and nullified the unions.

In March this year a judge ruled that all Californians have the same constitutional right to equal treatment regardless of sexuality.

The issue is now expected to go back to the Supreme Court.

Schwarzenegger says he supports full legal protection for gay couples but that the issue of gay marriage should be decided by the the people or in the courts.

It would take two-thirds votes in both houses to overturn the veto, and a veto hasn't been overturned in California in more than 20 years. Massachusetts is currently the only US state which recognizes same-sex marriages.