Go Arnold!

[ConcKahuna]

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Schwarzenegger inks pro-gay bills


Valerie Richardson

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's late-Sunday flurry of bill-signings produced a pair of groundbreaking victories for the state's gay rights community.

Mr. Schwarzenegger signed into law hotly debated legislation honoring slain San Francisco gay rights leader Harvey Milk with a "day of special significance," shortly before the midnight Sunday deadline. The governor vetoed the same bill last year.

Mr. Schwarzenegger said then that Mr. Milk should be honored locally, not statewide, but Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the governor changed his mind in response to the late supervisor's recent rise to prominence. Mr. Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August, and a movie about his life, "Milk," won two Academy Awards, including one for Sean Penn as best actor.

"He believes Harvey Milk symbolizes the contributions of the gay community in California," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "Over the past year he's become much more well-known."

Mr. Schwarzenegger also signed a bill recognizing as "domestic partnerships" tens of thousands of same-sex marriages performed across the country. The bill covers both gay weddings performed outside California since May 2008 and inside California in the May-November window when the Golden State performed gay marriages.

The California Supreme Court declared traditional marriage discriminatory in a ruling on May 15, 2008, but that decision was overturned six months later with the passage Nov. 5 of Proposition 8. During that time, about 18,000 same-sex couples had married in California, placing their legal status in limbo.

Six states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, Maine and New Hampshire - have approved recognition of same-sex marriage. The Maine law is being challenged by a referendum in the November election.

"As required by Proposition 8, California will not recognize such couples as 'married,' " said Mr. Schwarzenegger in a statement. "However, Senate Bill 54 will provide the same legal protections that would otherwise be available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships out-of-state. In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states."

California allows same-sex couples to enter into domestic partnerships with the same rights, protections and responsibilities of traditional marriage.

The Harvey Milk Day bill creates no new state holiday but rather a "day of special significance" honoring the late San Francisco city supervisor on May 22, his birthday. The state already has four such days: the Day of the Teacher, John Muir Day, California Poppy Day, and Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.

Conservative groups launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at discouraging the governor from signing the bill, saying Mr. Milk was an inappropriate role model for children. Equality California, the gay-rights group that sponsored the bill, countered by submitting 40,000 petitions to the governor's office.

Comments numbered in the tens of thousands. Those opposing the bill outnumbered those in favor by about 3 to 1, said Mr. McLear.

"This is truly historic," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. "I think the governor realized the impact Harvey Milk had on so many people. He was a civil rights leader for the [lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered] community."

The move infuriated conservatives. The bill encourages public schools and other educational institutions to use Harvey Milk Day to recall his life and accomplishments.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, which led the opposition to Harvey Milk Day, called Mr. Milk a "sexual predator," saying that he preferred relationships with teenagers and advocated having more than one relationship at a time, according to his biography, "The Mayor of Castro Street" by Randy Shilts.

"Sadly, children in public schools will now have even more in-your-face, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination," said Mr. Thomasson, who said schools may be encouraged to hold gay-pride parades to mark the day. "This provides the strongest impetus yet for loving parents to remove their children from anti-family public schools."

Mr. Milk authored the first anti-gay-discrimination law in U.S. history after being elected in 1977 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In 1978, he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White, who had resigned his post earlier but wanted his job back.

Mr. Schwarzenegger was faced with 704 bills ready to expire at midnight, and vetoed 229 of those. He had threatened earlier to veto all bills unless the Legislature acted to upgrade the state's water system, but later said he was satisfied with the lawmakers' progress.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

The Harvey Milk day is the best! That's been a long time coming and I'm really happy that it's official now.

As for the unions. Good. I'm not hung up on the word marriage. My wife doesn't even want that used in relationship to our unions. Seriously, we make our unions what they are eh? As long as the full legal protections are there, who really cares what it's called?

Seems like we may have the better end of the stick? Not to be gloomy, but isn't it easier to dissolve a domestic partnership than it is to do the divorce thing?

Anyway. Progress is a good thing.

Now if Maine can just hold on, that would be wonderful.