Golden Opportunity

In 1978 former California governor Ronald Reagan announced his opposition to the Briggs Initiative, a proposed law that would have not only barred gay people from teaching in the state’s public schools but also allowed administrators to fire any instructor suspected of “advocating, imposing, encouraging, or promoting” homosexuality. Prospects for the initiative looked bright at first: Gay rights measures were being rejected across the country. Reagan, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976 as a movement conservative against the more moderate Gerald Ford, was gearing up for the 1980 race and could scarcely afford to offend the “family values” crowd. Nevertheless, he declared that the initiative had “the potential for real mischief” and that “innocent lives could be ruined.” Initial polls showed 61% of voters in favor of the initiative and 31% opposed, but after Reagan announced his opposition the public mood shifted dramatically to 45% in favor and 43% opposed. The measure was eventually defeated by over a million votes.

Exactly 30 years later, another Republican governor of California announced his opposition to an antigay ballot measure. Asked on April 11 at the Log Cabin Republicans’ annual convention in San Diego about his stance on a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “I will always be there to fight against that.” He labeled the campaign a “total waste of time” and predicted that enactment of the amendment “will never happen in California, because I think the California people are much further along on that issue.”

Schwarzenegger’s position proved increasingly relevant when, on May 15, the California supreme court issued a 4–3 ruling striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban. The governor, who previously had vetoed two bills to legalize gay marriage, immediately put out a statement announcing his intention to “uphold” the court’s ruling. Gay couples began marrying on June 16, but if the proposed constitutional amendment passes in November—and it only requires a bare majority to do so—California will not only join the 26 other states that have constitutionally banned gay unions but will achieve the dubious honor of being the first state in the country to revoke previously certified gay marriages.

Schwarzenegger is the most prominent Republican opponent of the marriage amendment, and his opposition doesn’t come as a surprise to California gay rights activists, especially Republican ones. Log Cabin Republicans president Patrick Sammon points to the fact that the governor has signed more gay-friendly laws than any other current governor in the country. Indeed, Schwarzenegger is just one part, albeit a significant part, of a larger story, one that may come as a surprise to many gays. As much as liberals have been at the forefront of gay rights struggles across the country, Republicans too have played a crucial role in bringing marriage equality to California.