Sacramento Bee
April 11, 2008
http://www.sacbee.com/114/v-print/story/855737.html

Schwarzenegger says he would fight efforts to ban gay marriage

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that he would fight an
initiative to amend the California Constitution to ban gay marriage
if it qualifies for the November ballot.

Schwarzenegger said he was confident that such an amendment, which
already are on the books in 26 other states, would never pass in
California and called it a "waste of time."

"I will always be there to fight against that," Schwarzenegger said,
prompting loud cheers and a standing ovation from about 200 people at
the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's
largest gay Republican group.

The Austrian-born governor immediately cracked that he wished
activists would instead focus on passing an amendment to allow
naturalized citizens to run for president.

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, said it was the first
time the governor publicly stated opposition to the measure, though
he has held the view for "some time."

"He has said he supports the will of the people and would enforce the
rule of the court but does not support an initiative to change the
Constitution," she said.

Schwarzenegger made his remarks during a brief question-and-answer
session with Log Cabin's president, Patrick Sammon, who asked the
governor about his position on two anti-gay marriage measures
proposed by competing groups in California. Besides limiting marriage
to heterosexuals, one measure would revoke the spousal rights and tax
benefits currently extended to same-sex couples under state laws.

"The topic was planned, the answer was not," Sammon said after the
lunch. "I'm delighted and really excited."

Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality
California, said Schwarzenegger's opposition could keep a marriage
ban from qualifying and would be significant in defeating one if it
does.

"We were thrilled. We have been asking him to do this," said Kors,
whose group's volunteers have been working to persuade people not to
sign petitions for the proposed initiative. "The governor's support
to defeat it is critical."

Kors said Schwarzenegger's stand has precedent. In 1978, former
Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan came out against a ballot initiative
that would have made it illegal for gay men and lesbians to work as
teachers in California public schools, an act that "made gay rights
issues nonpartisan," Kors said.

Schwarzenegger has vetoed bills that would have legalized gay
marriage, saying that he thinks the question should be up to voters
or the courts, not lawmakers. He is a defendant in a group of
lawsuits brought by same-sex couples seeking to overturn the state's
longtime statutory ban on gay marriage. A ruling in the case is
expected soon from the California Supreme Court.

In the message that accompanied his October veto of a measure that
would have made California the second state after Massachusetts to
legalize same-sex marriage, the governor said he does not believe in
discriminating against couples based on their sexual orientation. He
said he supports state laws that give domestic partners many of the
rights and responsibilities of marriage.