The Associated Press
Friday, September 30, 2005; 12:52 AM
SACRAMENTO, Calif, -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger followed through Thursday on his promise to veto a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, leaving the issue up to voters or judges who will likely face the volatile issue in the next year.
"This bill simply adds confusion to a constitutional issue," the Republican governor said in a veto message.
Schwarzenegger had announced his intention on Sept. 7, a day after the Legislature became the first in the country to approve a bill allowing gays and lesbians to wed.
Schwarzenegger said the bill by Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno contradicted Proposition 22, which was approved by voters in 2000 and said only a marriage between a man and woman is valid.
The governor said the state constitution bars the Legislature from enacting a law allowing gay marriage without another vote by the public and that Leno's bill wouldn't provide for that vote.
Schwarzenegger noted that a state appeals court was considering whether the state's ban on gay marriage is constitutional and that the issue would likely be decided by the California Supreme Court.
"If the ban of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional this bill is not necessary," he said. "If the ban is constitutional this bill is ineffective."
Leno, who is openly gay, said Schwarzenegger had missed a historic opportunity to stand up for civil rights.
"He cannot claim to support fair and equal legal protection for same-sex couples and veto the very bill that would have provided it to them," Leno said. "Words are cheap. We're looking for action. We're looking for leadership."
In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said he supports the state's domestic partner laws, which give same-sex couples most of the rights and obligations of married couples, and would oppose efforts to overturn or weaken those statutes.
Leno's bill was approved by bare majorities in the state Assembly and Senate. It would take two-thirds votes in both houses to overturn the veto and there hasn't been a veto override in California in more than 20 years.
Eddie Gutierrez, a spokesman for Equality California, a gay rights group that supported the bill, said Schwarzenegger had merely delayed the day when gay marriage is legal.
"We are extremely disappointed with the governor's decision," he said. "By denying us marriage equality he has turned a back to our community."
Nachdem das kalifornische Parlament am 6. September das Gesetz zur Legalisierung der Homosexuellen-Ehe beschlossen hatte, hat nun Kaliforniens Gouverneur Arnold Schwarzenegger sein Veto-Recht ausgeübt.

Seiner Ansicht nach würde dieses Gesetz nur zu Irritationen führen. „Wenn das derzeitige Verbot gleichgeschlechtlicher Ehe nicht verfassungsgemäß ist, ist das Gesetz nicht notwendig. Wenn das Verbot der Verfassung entspricht, ist das Gesetz unwirksam.“ So sollten deshalb die Bürger und Gerichte Kaliforniens über das Gesetz entscheiden, nicht aber das Parlament.

Weiterhin führt er aus, dass das Gesetz dem Ergebnis der Volksabstimmung aus dem Jahr 2000 widerspräche, bei der die Bürger mehrheitlich entschieden hatten, dass eine Ehe aus Mann und Frau bestehe. Gegen das Verbot gleichgeschlechtlicher Ehen hat sich jedoch ein Gericht in San Francisco ausgesprochen, dass in dem Verbot einen Verfassungsverstoß sieht.

Derzeit wird über den Streit in einem Berufungsverfahren verhandelt.