SACRAMENTO, Calif. (ABP) — In a repeat performance, California legislators sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) a bill legalizing same-sex marriage Sept. 10.
And, in another repeat performance, the governor is expected to veto the measure.
The California Senate approved the bill on a 22-15 party-line vote, with Democrats in the majority. The legislature's lower chamber had already approved the bill.
It would have modified the California Family Code to define marriage as a civil contract between two people, regardless of gender. With a similar measure in 2005, the California Assembly became the first legislature in the nation to approve full marriage rights for same-sex couples without having been ordered by a court to do so.
Schwarzenegger nixed the earlier bill, citing a 2000 voter initiative that defined marriage in exclusively heterosexual terms. That measure, known as Proposition 22, passed by a margin of 61-39 percent. Schwarzenegger and other conservatives have argued that only voters should be empowered to overturn an initiative, not legislators.
Supporters of same-sex marriage in California, meanwhile, have argued that Californians' opinions on gay rights have changed significantly since 2000.
Massachusetts is the only jurisdiction in the United States to offer marriage to same-sex couples on a basis equal with heterosexual couples. In addition, Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey offer civil unions, which give gay couples the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. Several other jurisdictions — such as California and the District of Columbia — offer domestic-partnership registries that offer some, but not all, of the protections of civil unions.
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California legislature becomes first in U.S. to OK same-sex marriage (9/5/2007)