With
California's antigay Proposition 8 gaining support
thanks to a distorted but effective ad campaign, LGBT
voters find ourselves worrying: Will politicians
continue to stand with us against the proposed
amendment?
Arnold
Schwarzenegger, for instance. After all, before
California's supreme court cleared the way, the
Republican governor twice vetoed marriage equality
against the will of the state legislature. Yes, he
stated at the Log Cabin Republicans convention on April 11
that he's against Prop. 8, a ballot measure
that would amend the state constitution to rescind
same-sex marriage rights. But is he still feeling the love?
No worries, says
Schwarzenegger political spokeswoman Julie Soderlund.
Asked several times about any changes in the
governor's position, Soderlund genially
repeated the same sentence: "The governor does not
support Proposition 8." By way of illustration she
re-sent the transcript of Schwarzenegger's
statement to Log Cabin.
In his Q&A
with Log Cabin president Patrick Sammon at the convention,
here's what the governor said.
Sammon: [In
November] there very well could be a ballot initiative
that's meant to forever ban same-sex couples from
having the same responsibilities, a true marriage,
that other couples do. Can we count on your opposition
to this effort to ban gay people from having marriages
always?
Schwarzenegger:
Well, first of all, I think that it will never happen in
California, because I think that California people are much
further along with that issue. And number 2, I will
always be there to fight against that, because it
should never happen. [Applause]
But if
Proposition 8 should pass, what then? Will Schwarzenegger
support legal appeals to overturn it? Will he uphold
the validity of same-sex marriages already performed
in California?
In an e-mail,
Soderlund responded, "The questions are hypothetical
at this point since we do not yet know the outcome of
the election."
We hope
Schwarzenegger will note the example of Los Angeles mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, who's not waiting to test
the hypotheses. Over the weekend the mayor contributed
$25,000 to the No on Prop. 8 campaign. (The
Advocate)
