SACRAMENTO -Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would veto a bill that would legalize gay marriage in California for the second time if state lawmakers pass it again this year.
In June 2005, the California Legislature became the first lawmaking body in the United States to vote in favor of allowing same-sex couples to wed. Schwarzenegger refused to sign the measure, saying it was in conflict with a 2000 voter-approved measure that shored up the state's one man, one woman marriage laws.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, reintroduced the gay marriage bill in December, but Schwarzenegger said on Thursday that his thoughts about it have not changed in the last year and a half.
"I wouldn't sign it because the people of California have voted on that issue," Schwarzenegger told a high school student who asked him about the bill at a California YMCA Youth and Government conference.
The governor said voters should make the decision, "but it should not be me or the Legislature."
Geoffrey Kors, executive of the gay rights lobbying group Equality California, said Friday that he hoped Schwarzenegger would take the time to meet with gay and lesbian couples before promising another veto.
"How would the governor feel if his right to marry First Lady Maria Shriver had been put to a popular vote?" Kors said.
from The San Francisco Chronicle
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