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Schwarzenegger gets mixed reception on gay bill
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-14 10:30 LOS ANGELES: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger met with criticism as well as praise this week after signing controversial state bills affirming gay rights.
Among a slew of bills that the Republican governor signed into law late on Sunday, one of the most controversial might be a bill proclaiming gay rights activist Harvey Milk's May 22 birthday as a day of recognition and encouraging schools to consider commemoration of his life. "He has become much more of a symbol of the gay community than he was a year ago," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said. "That made the difference from last year: he's really come to symbolize the gay community in California." The governor vetoed a similar bill last year. Leader assassinated Milk was a leader in gay rights movement who in 1977 became United State's first openly gay man elected to public office in a major US city. He was assassinated the following year. Randy Thomasson, president of the family values group SaveCalifornia.com, called the governor's action appalling, according to The Los Angeles Times. He said the gay rights activist "in no way was a good role model for impressionable schoolchildren." Rights group Equality California praised Schwarzenegger for approving the Milk bill, and another bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states before California's November 2008 ban on same-sex marriage. In signing the same-sex marriage bill, the governor said there was uncertainty about how California should treat same-sex couples married out of state while such marriages were legal in California before the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages. More conservative angst Schwarzenegger also signed a bill, opposed by many conservatives, that requires sellers of handgun ammunition, starting in 2011, to keep a log of information on sales including the buyer's thumbprint, signature and driver's license data. Since Schwarzenegger has vetoed other bills restricting guns this year, the executive director of Gun Owners of California was baffled that the governor agreed to track ammunition sales. "We think it was a devastating mistake," said Sam Paredes, executive director of the group representing 30,000 gun owners. Ammunition buyers, he said, "are going to be treated like registered sex offenders." He said he suspected the governor's action on some bills was a trade-off to line up votes on his water package. Xinhua |
