Arnold To Kill Gay Marriage Bill

Last Friday I wrote that meanwhile on the West Coast...

LA Times) The California Senate voted Thursday to allow homosexuals to marry, becoming the first legislative body in the United States to embrace the idea and setting off a scramble for three votes needed for passage in the Assembly.

With so much of the nation's attention being focused on New Orleans and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, perhaps enough of it has diverted the usual hellfire the religious right would typically unleash on such heathen behavior.

Well they found the three votes they needed, but Arnold has decided he knows better and will veto the bill.

Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the governor "believes that gay couples are entitled to full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against based upon their relationship."

But since California voters approved a ballot measure five years ago defining marriage as between a man and a woman, the question of gay marriage should be put to voters again in a referendum or decided by courts, she said.

Except, by denying them the full rights of a married couple, gay couples are discriminated against.

I guess there is still plenty of hellfire to go around, whatever the circumstance.

Oh, and let's not forget how hypocritical this crowd is. They say the question of gay marriage should be decided by courts. Oh, really? That's certainly not the tune we've been hearing in the past couple of years. Remember what happened in Massachusetts early last year?

(CNN - 2/6/04) Underscoring its original ruling last November, Massachusetts' highest court said Wednesday that only full marriage rights for gay couples, not civil unions, would conform to the state's constitution.

The ruling sets the stage for Massachusetts later this year to likely become the first state in the nation to allow same-sex marriages.

In a statement released Wednesday night, President Bush said the ruling was "deeply troubling.

"Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman," Bush said. "If activist judges insist on re-defining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process. We must do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage."

It's going to be a long battle yet before gay couples can legally and lawfully marry, but I believe that one day it will be possible, if for no reason other than the fact that it is only right and fair, and a country built on such principles cannot deny these freedoms to a segment of its population indefinitely. One day America will join the global community in realizing that.