Same-sex Marriage: Veto the future

Friday, September 9, 2005

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

California is close to legalizing same-sex marriage, with lawmakers there this week passing a bill to make it so. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would veto the bill, because ... . Oh yes, he'll veto the bill because he cares so much about the feelings of voters who, five years ago, approved an initiative preventing California from recognizing same-sex marriages.

So, Der Governator has respect for the process and the will of the people, eh? How the heck did he think this bill came to be in the first place? Lawmakers -- elected ones -- passed it. But we suppose some processes are less convenient to respect than others, making this is a distasteful, transparent case of political pandering. California already gives gay couples registered as domestic partners many of the rights it affords (straight) married couples, and this ridiculous veto only makes a significant portion of his constituency feel disrespected and sold out.

The notion of marriage as a sacred thing and the privilege of straight couples is outdated and laughable. How could two men getting married harm the institution more than Britney Spears, whose first marriage was a skanky 55-hour Las Vegas affair?

Marriage can't be defined like that. Its inviolability -- like any other bond -- is something that can be upheld and understood only in the hearts and minds of the two people who enter into it.

You can't enforce that type of thing (as Britney so poetically proved), and you sure as heck can't veto it. So give it up, Gov. Schwarzenegger -- you're fighting a losing battle.

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