Gay-Marriage Bill Narrowly Passes California Assembly
By Nancy Vogel
SACRAMENTO—
The California Legislature made history Tuesday as the Assembly passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. With no votes to spare, California's lawmakers became the first in the United States to act without a court order to sanction gay unions. The measure was approved after three Democratic lawmakers, who abstained on a similar proposal that failed in June, changed their minds under intense lobbying by bill author Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and gay and civil rights activists.
The bill, which would change California's legal definition of marriage from "a civil contract between a man and a woman" to a "civil contract between two persons," now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The governor has signaled that he will veto it. [GG:
No! Don't let this happen!!! 
]
Tuesday's partisan vote came after 23 lawmakers spoke for an hour and a half, many of them describing the historic importance of their action, others relating intensely personal stories.
In a moment of high drama, with dozens of gay-rights supporters watching from the Assembly gallery, Salinas hesitated for several seconds as the tally hung at 40 "ayes" — one short of passage. Then, having promised Leno months ago that he would not let the bill fail if it garnered 40 votes, Salinas pressed the "aye" button on his desk, making the final vote 41-35. Those seconds "seemed like an eternity," said Mark Guzman of El Dorado Hills, as he and his partner of 14 years, J. Scott Coatsworth, celebrated in the Capitol rotunda after the voting.
Assemblymembers Tom Umberg of Anaheim, Gloria Negrete-McLeod of Chino and Simon Salinas of Salinas provided the key votes. Assemblymember Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who had missed the Assembly floor vote in June, also helped the bill prevail.
Assemblyman Jerome Horton, (D-Inglewood), one of the lawmakers who abstained in June when Leno's bill failed 37-36, withheld his vote again Tuesday. Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-Imperial City) abstained after having voted "no" in June. Assemblyman Joe Baca, Jr. (D-Rialto) also abstained Tuesday.
Two of the lawmakers who switched their votes from abstain to "aye" said in floor speeches that they were glad for another chance.
Umberg elicited applause and whoops in the otherwise hushed chamber when he described why he had changed his mind. He said he had been "cajoled, been harassed, been harangued and been threatened" by friends over the issue.
"This is one of those time when history looks upon us to see where we are," said Umberg. "Ten years from now, there are a handful of issues that history will record where we stood and this is one of those issues."
"History will record whether we pushed a bit, took the lead to encourage tolerance, to encourage equality to encourage fairness," he said.
"The constituency I'm concerned about is a very small one," said Umberg, "and that's the constituency of my three children, should they decide to look back on my record ... and reflect on where I was when we could make a difference." [GG:
Yes!!! Thank you, Tom Umberg! 
]
Negrete-McLeod similarly said she regretted abstaining in June.
The fight over same-sex marriage will now shift to the governor's office -- and to the courts and perhaps the ballot box. A case testing the legality of gay marriage is moving toward the state Supreme Court, and opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to qualify two different initiatives to ban gay marriage for the ballot next year.
Leno characterized gay marriage as the most important civil rights issue of the 21st century. He enlisted Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, and Alice Huffman, California president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, to help him lobby undecided lawmakers.
Huerta said she spoke to Salinas last week and "went back to our old culture, the Latino culture."
"Respecting other people's rights is peace," she said. "Respecting other people's rights to marry who they want is a constitutional right, it's a human right and it's a privacy right. I said to Simon, 'You've got to be a leader . . . .You've got to have courage.' "
Opponents of same-sex marriage call Leno's bill unconstitutional, saying that it overturns what voters put into law five years ago when they passed Proposition 22 by 61%. That initiative stated that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California.
"The only word I can see here is prostitution," said Randy Thomasson, president of the nonprofit Campaign for Children and Families. "Instead of obeying the votes and the constitution, the Democratic politicians have prostituted themselves to the homosexual marriage agenda. It's not gay, it's bad."
After Leno's bill fell three votes short of passing the Assembly in June, he inserted the gay marriage legislation into a bill about marine research that was pending in the Senate. That bill, AB 849, cleared the Senate on Thursday, also with the minimum number of votes necessary.
Some Republicans, none of whom voted for Leno's bill, downplayed the historic significance of the vote and said gay marriage is not an issue of civil rights.
Others criticized Leno for reviving the bill after the June defeat and called homosexual marriage immoral.
"The institution of marriage transcends political fads," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta). "We are talking about an institution that has been defined for thousands of years . . . and we are being asked to engage in a great social experiment."
Leno said he optimistic that Schwarzenegger has an open mind on his bill, which the governor has until Oct. 9 to veto or sign. He noted that public opinion on gay marriage is evenly split, 46% to 46%, in California based on a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
"I believe this is a governor who at his core is a libertarian on issues of social matters," said Leno, "and that he is very fair --minded."
"I think he also takes the longer, rather than shorter, view of history," he said.
After the Assembly vote, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said, "The people spoke when they passed Proposition 22.
"The issue subsequently went to the courts. The governor believes the courts are the correct venue for this decision to be made, " Thompson said. "He will uphold whatever decision the court renders."
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Let Ahnold know how you feel, and don't let him weasel his way out of this!!!
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