The governor's wimp-out

THE MOST ANNOYING thing about the announcement from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office that he plans to veto the same-sex marriage bill is that we all know Schwarzenegger has no personal, moral, or political problems with gay and lesbian people getting married. He's never been a social conservative. He almost certainly has queer friends, and they almost certainly have families.

What's happening here is the tough-guy, pumped-up, don't-be-a-girlie-man governor is scared of the religious right. And that's a very sad statement about the California Republican Party.

That said, a couple of facts are still crucial here. One, the governor has not yet vetoed that bill; it isn't even on his desk yet. So there's still an intense lobbying effort to get him to change his mind.

"At the very least, before he does this, we want him to agree to meet with just one same-sex family that's suffering every day because of a lack of equal rights," assembly member Mark Leno, who authored the bill, told us.

The other thing to remember is that this is already a stunning victory. Ten years ago a bill like this would have had no chance at all in the state legislature. Part of the reason it passed this year was clearly the political skill and determination of Leno, who deserves tremendous credit for his work. But it's also partially the passage of time, the fact that our society is moving slowly but inevitably toward the day when same-sex marriage will be not only legal but utterly normal, commonplace, and accepted almost everywhere. (The very fact that some opponents of same-sex marriage point to domestic partnership rights, which were a huge battle 20 years ago, as an alternative to marriage demonstrates that this movement has made immense progress.)

There's still time to push the governor on this – at least to make him feel the heat. His office phone number is (916) 445-2821, fax (916) 445-4633, e-mail www.govmail.ca.gov. You can get more information from Equality California, at www.eqca.org. Take a second to write or call, and tell Arnold to toughen up.