Arnie Nixes Gay Marriage

It took 20 months of wheedling and browbeating to get the California legislature to pass a pioneering bill authorizing gay marriage. But Arnold Schwarzenegger took less than 24 hours to decide to veto it. The reason? Pure politics, say both critics and supporters of the non-girlie-man Governor. "He didn't even let the bill get to his desk before announcing the veto," says Mark Leno, the openly gay state assemblyman who was the main backer. "He is pandering to the far right." Indeed, with the Governor's popularity rating down to 36% and Democrats alienated by his attacks on public-service unions, Schwarzenegger is now "more dependent on his Republican base than ever," says Allan Hoffenblum, a G.O.P. strategist in Los Angeles.

Schwarzenegger refused to comment further on his motives, saying through an aide only that he would veto the bill "out of respect for the will of the people" (voters passed a referendum in 2000 restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman). But Schwarzenegger won't have the last word. A case about the constitutionality of gay marriage will probably be heard by the California Supreme Court next year; similar lawsuits are pending in New Jersey, New York and Washington. With several states having amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage--and Massachusetts the only one to have legalized it, albeit by court order--many observers say the issue will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ah, yet another question for Chief Justice nominee John Roberts. --By Terry McCarthy. With reporting by Eli Sanders