SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday, Sept. 17, that he won’t reconsider his decision to veto a bill legalizing gay marriage and will keep vetoing the measure as long as lawmakers send it to him.
The Republican governor said he won’t change his position unless voters overturn an anti-gay marriage initiative that Californians adopted in 2000.
“It would be wrong for the people to vote for something and for me to then overturn it,” Schwarzenegger said.
“So they can send this bill down as many times as they want, I won’t do it.”
The bill would redefine marriage as a civil contract between two people, but would still let religious groups refuse to sanction the unions.
Schwarzenegger vetoed a gay marriage bill in 2005, citing the 61 percent of voters who favored Proposition 22 in March 2000.
He announced in February that he would veto the bill again if it reached his desk this year. Despite the announcement, lawmakers approved it before adjourning last week.
Schwarzenegger has until Oct. 14 to act on the measure.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 21, 2007