You win some, you lose some

He did it. Schwarzenegger vetoed the gay-marriage bill that had been approved by the California legislature a couple of weeks ago. He said he'd veto it, but I was still holding out hope that he'd change his mind and decide to stand up for civil rights instead of bigotry.

Now, all we can do is hope that the cases working their way up the legal system reach the Supreme Court -and we win- before a proposed constitutional amendment reaches the ballot, since we might very well lose that one. After all, Proposition 22, which said that only a marriage between a man and woman is valid, won with over 60% of the votes, so I consider the chance of the public voting in favor of a constitutional amendment as very likely.

Schwarzenegger's reason for vetoing the bill:

The governor said the state constitution bars the Legislature from enacting a law allowing gay marriage without another vote by the public and that Leno's bill wouldn't provide for that vote.

Schwarzenegger noted that a state appeals court was considering whether the state's ban on gay marriage is constitutional and that the issue would likely be decided by the California Supreme Court.

"If the ban of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional this bill is not necessary," he said. "If the ban is constitutional this bill is ineffective."

Sorry, Arnold (we can be on first name terms here, since you just trashed my civil rights,) but you miss the point of being a Governor here. Just because the Supreme Court might one day decide on the issue, doesn't mean that you can't be pro-active yourself. Like Mark Leno, the openly gay representative who sponsored the bill, said "Schwarzenegger has missed a historic opportunity to stand up for civil rights."

"He cannot claim to support fair and equal legal protection for same-sex couples and veto the very bill that would have provided it to them," Leno said. "Words are cheap. We're looking for action. We're looking for leadership."

Well said, Mr. Leno. We are looking for leadership, and apparently Schwarzenegger is more interested in not alienating the religious right (his political base) in order to get re-elected, than in standing up for all his state's citizens.

Shame on you, Mr. Governor. I despise you.