Schwarzenegger
Won’t Waver on Prop. 8, Aide Says

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)