Schwarzenegger
Vetoes Same-Sex Marriage For Second Time

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed another same-sex marriage bill Friday, saying voters and the California supreme court, not lawmakers, should decide the issue.

The Republican governor turned down a measure by Assemblyman Mark Leno that would have defined marriage as a union between two people, not just a man and a woman. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill from Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, in 2005 and has said he would veto all such bills.

The California supreme court is likely to rule next year on whether the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the constitution.

Schwarzenegger said in his veto message that Californians ''should not be discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation.'' He said he supports state laws that give domestic partners many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights group, said the veto was ''hypocrisy at its worst.''

''We find it shocking for the governor to say he opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and then veto a bill that would have ended discrimination based on sexual orientation,'' Kors said. (AP)