Calif. Governor Plans to Veto Homosexual 'Marriage' Bill; Traditionalists Pleased
by Jody Brown
September 9, 2005
(AgapePress) - Family advocates are praising the governor of California for his intention to veto a piece of legislation that, if signed, would legal same-sex "marriage" in that state. AB 849 is on its way to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk after being passed by both houses of the California Legislature. Since the first of September, the Democrat-controlled California Senate and Assembly has voted to change the wording in the state's marriage laws to describe it as a union of "two persons" rather than "a man and a woman." The measure, however, is in direct conflict of the state constitution, which states that legislators cannot overturn a voter-approved initiative. In March 2000, 61.4 percent of California's voters approved Proposition 22, which stated that in California only the union of a man and a woman would be recognized as marriage.
It is for that reason that Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated he will veto the bill. His press secretary stated on Wednesday night "We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails the vote. Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto AB 849."
Randy Thomasson | |
Randy Thomasson, president of the Sacramento-based Campaign for Children and Families, reacted to the governor's announcement. "We thank the governor for understanding the constitutional restrictions on the Legislature, and [for] announcing he will respect the peoples' vote to protect marriage licenses for a man and a woman," he stated in a press release. Schwarzenegger's quick decision, says Thomasson, has spared both the governor and the people of his state "much grief." But the CCF leader says the battle is not over.
"This terrible debacle of destroying the definition of marriage will repeat itself unless the people rise up and support the VoteYesMarriage.com campaign to fully protect marriage in the State Constitution -- above the reach of the politicians and judges," he says.
One family advocate on the other side of the country is applauding Schwarzenegger for his intention to veto the measure. "[The governor] has done the right thing in promising to veto this illegal bill," says Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute. "It's evidence that [Concerned Women of America] of California and other pro-family groups got their message through to him." That message? "We don't want counterfeit marriage," says Knight.
As for the timing of the legislation, the CFI director says it suggests to him that the California Legislature seems to follow a national disaster by creating its own social disaster. He recalls what happened on September 12, 2001.
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Bob Knight |
"The ... day after New York [City] was devastated by the [terrorist] attack, they passed a sweeping domestic partners law, thus attacking marriage," he explains. "Here they now pass a law sweeping away marriage completely, saying it doesn't even need a man and a woman anymore, while the nation is reeling from the unfolding tragedy in the Gulf States with Hurricane Katrina." Knight also sees the liberal lawmakers in the state doing what he describes as an "end run." He refers to the prohibition specified in the state constitution.
"The legislature cannot override a proposition vote by the people of California," he says. "If the Legislature really wanted to do this right, they would've put another proposition on the ballot; the Legislature has the power to do that. But they didn't dare do it because they knew they'd lose."
Knight encourages the citizens of California to "take a hard look at what the liberals are doing to them -- or at least trying to do to them."
