Burnt Orange Report

Arnold Backtracks

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Gov. Schwarzenegger, who has stated previously that he supports same-sex marriage, has now caved to the right wing of his party in order to shore up his diminishing political base as California voters have a serious case of buyers remorse. He has stated that he would veto the landmark legislation passed by both bodies of the California legislature and supported by 46% of the state's population, in order for either the people or the courts to decide. I think the following highlights the issue perfectly and the type of people the Governator is siding with.

"Marriage should be between a man and a woman, end of story. Next issue," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, a Monrovia Repubican. "It’s not about civil rights or personal rights, it’s about acceptance. They want to be accepted as normal. They are not normal."

Schwarzenegger is facing plummeting popularity just two years after chasing Democratic Governor Gray Davis out of office in a recall election in 2003. He has taken on nurses, teachers, and state workers and has called a special election for November, the centerpiece of which is a ballot measure that would redraw the lines of the state’s districts to reduce the Democrats’ majority in the Legislature. But the idea of the election is not faring well with voters, and the Democrats are pressing legislation that would allow him to cancel it. Recent polls show that only about 27 percent of the state’s voters like the idea of the election at all.

So advocates claim Schwarzenegger is using the issue of gay rights to shore up eroding support in his right-wing fundamentalist base. On Tuesday, the governor also vetoed a minor bill that would have added sexual orientation to a voluntary list of prohibited topics in political campaign advertising.

Just before going into a meeting with the governor’s staff on Wednesday evening, Geoff Kors, who heads Equality California, said that “with two vetoes of gay rights bills in one day the governor has shown that he is a George Bush, Karl Rove Republican who will sell out his principles and the gay community in a desperate attempt to save his failing political career.

"California voters will finish the job," Kors threatened.

"He made a politically expedient move that in the long run is going to hurt him," charged lesbian Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles Democrat.. "No right-wing base has ever elected a governor."

The Texan ran a reaction piece in which I was quoted today with the following...and the Campus Alliance Against Inequality, which is working to defeat Prop 2 here in Texas, got a plug in as well (new website next week).

"There is a combination of hope and joy in something being passed that is a signal of a society moving forward," he said. "But there is also a sense of anxiousness because our battle is moving toward equality. It is a shame to be overjoyed ... because it highlights that we are not there in so many other parts of the country, especially in Texas where we're moving backward."

...

A gay and lesbian rights advocacy group, Stand Out, formed the Campus Alliance Against Inequality in August to campaign against the proposed amendment.

"Most of the people the Campus Alliance talks to haven't even heard of the amendment," said Jake Holbrook, director and founder of Stand Out. "People are still quite misinformed about it."

Holbrook said their biggest opposition will not come from their traditional antagonists, Republicans and fundamentalist Christians.

"It's the people who are with us and won't vote just because they think the issue is already a lost cause in Texas," he said.