California
same-sex marriage bill dead for now

Gay California lawmaker Mark Leno said Friday that he will not reintroduce his lauded bill to legalize marriage rights for same-sex couples in 2006, The [San Jose] Mercury News reported. Leno's bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "At this point we are not looking at introducing the bill this year,'' Leno told the newspaper. Leno said this is not the year to try to push the bill, because the governor's stance on the issue has not changed and two proposed initiatives that would have banned same-sex marriage and scaled back domestic-partnership rights appear to be going nowhere, according to the newspaper. Although 2006 is an election year, Leno told reporters that he is not grounding the bill to shield his colleagues from taking a tough vote that could jeopardize their seats. (Advocate.com)