- Governor Schwarzenegger does not hate gay people. He knows many gay people, from Merv Griffin to Rosie O’Donnell. He has signed almost every lesbian and gay rights law he has received. He signed our very effective Domestic Partnership legislation. His Chief of Staff is a Lesbian.
- I don’t know why he stops short on legal marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a nearly identical bill in 2005. He says that he lacks the authority to override Proposition 22, and he wants the people to decide independently of their legislature. None of these reasons are grounds to stand in the way of a civil rights bill brought legally and democratically to his desk.
- The California Family Code section 300 said a marriage was “two persons” until the legislature changed it in 1977. The change was signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown. I believe that Governor Schwarzenegger has the same authority to grant rights as Governor Jerry Brown had in 1977 when he took away rights.
- The people passed Proposition 22 in 2000, adding to the part of the California Family Code that deals with marriages performed in other places. AB 43 does not change section 308.5. All it does is fix section 300 to say “two persons.”
- We need AB 43 for several strategic reasons:
- if the Supreme court decides in October that Californians deserve gay marriage, we will still need AB 43 to provide it.
- a pro-marriage law will drive the courts towards legal marriage.
- a pro-marriage law will drive the people towards legal marriage.
- an anti-gay ballot initiative becomes one that removes freedoms rather than one that just reinforces existing law.
- Churches that do not believe in same-sex marriage (or any other kind of marriage) will not have to perform any ceremony. More importantly, churches that DO believe in same-sex marriage will finally be able to perform them (United Church of Christ, Metropolitan Community Church.)
- Same-sex marriages and registered partnerships (Domestic Partnerships, civil unions) are not the same. Although registered partnerships give same-sex couples most of the benefits and protections of civil marriage, the couples are not legally married. Registered partnerships create two sets of laws that are expensive to administer, and they deprive California citizens of their dignity. Nobody grows up dreaming of getting ‘domestic partnered.’
- The Opponents of Equality are being fueled by the Mormons. Mormons are thieves. They took away Scouting and they took away Marriage. What are they going to take away next?
- The inevitable outcome of preventing some people from being civilly married is that nobody will be civilly married. That would be a shame.
