Activists hope to
change Schwarzenegger's mind on marriage veto

Hoping to change California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's mind after he vowed to veto a recently passed same-sex marriage bill, activists and politicians have delayed sending the bill to his desk, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A bill must be physically in the governor's possession before he can veto it. And the assembly's leadership doesn't plan to deliver the bill to Schwarzenegger's desk until the September 23 deadline, gay assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco said Monday.

Gay rights groups are planning activities each day until then, leaders of the gay rights group Equality California and state officials from the Bay Area told the Chronicle. Those activities will highlight various segments of the population that could be affected by the bill, such as gay senior citizens, children of gay parents, and different ethnic minority groups.

The governor's spokeswoman told the paper that Schwarzenegger still plans to veto the bill. "The governor will not change his mind on this bill," said Margita Thompson. "The legal issues do not change, regardless of public input. It will take another vote of the people or a court action to determine the issue."

Geoffrey Kors, who leads Equality California, said 50,000 people had e-mailed the governor through the group's Web site in one day last week, and he hopes 1 million people will contact the governor over the next 12 days. "I'm confident that through education we can change his heart and change his mind," Kors said at a press conference Monday in San Francisco announcing the action. Leno called the planned Schwarzenegger veto "a political assault weapon on millions of Californians."