California governor not opposed to same-sex marriage

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a crowd on Thursday that if gay and lesbian couples want to get married, he has no moral problem with it, according to the Los Angeles Times. His position is in striking contrast to that of many members of the Republican Party, including President Bush, who endorses the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would use the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Schwarzenegger's remarks came during a question-and-answer session at a Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurant in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom as the governor urged lawmakers to pass his $103 billion state budget. The Times reported that gay attendee Peter Renfro of Sacramento, who has a partner, asked Schwarzenegger about his opinion on same-sex marriage. "My opinion is that I don't care one way or the other," the governor said. Renfro continued, "Oh. Without avoiding the question..." Schwarzenegger replied, "No, no, I don't care one way or the other." Schwarzenegger has not indicated whether he'll sign a bill that would allow same-sex marriages, set to be introduced in December by assembly speaker Fabian Nunez and assemblyman Mark Leno. In an interview on Thursday with the Times, Nunez said the governor's remarks are a positive sign. Senate president John Burton told the newspaper that the governor's position makes sense: "Why would anybody care," he said, "except the two people getting married or the spurned lover of one of the two people getting married?" In a March taping of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Schwarzenegger said that it would be "fine with me" if state law were changed to permit same-sex marriages. He also strongly rejected Bush's call for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. "I think those issues should be left to the state, so I have no use for a constitutional amendment or change in that at all," he said.