In a CNN interview Sunday, Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger came out swinging in favor of gay activists who
had have taken to the streets in protest to Tuesday's passage of a
gay marriage ban in the state. The governor said, “They should
never give up.”
While discussing Proposition 8 – the
ballot initiative that amends the state's constitution to ban gay
marriage – Schwarzenegger offered a dramatic new pro-gay position.
“It's unfortunate, obviously, but
it's not the end,” Schwarzenegger said. “I think that we will
again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then
move forward from there and again lead in that area.”
Schwarzenegger's position on the issue
continues to defy logic. The Republican governor has said he
personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and
has rejected legislation recognizing gay marriage. However, in May,
just after the California Supreme Court overruled a 2000
voter-approved gay marriage ban, he appeared supportive at a gay
marriage rally saying, “I'm wishing everyone good luck with their
marriages and I hope that California's economy is booming because
everyone is going to come here and get married.”
And in April – a month before the
court ruled – Schwarzenegger told a group of gay Republicans, “I
will always be there to fight against that [a constitutional ban
against gay marriage], because it should never happen.”
But as the gay marriage campaigns duked
it out on the airways and streets of California, the governor failed
to deliver on his promised “fight.”
Yesterday, as protests demanding the
reinstatement of gay marriage continued on the streets of California
for a fifth day in a row, he urged backers of gay marriage to keep
fighting. Using his own weight lifting experience, the governor
said: “I learned that you should never, ever give up ... They
should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get
it done.”
Democrat Maria Shriver,
Schwarzenegger's wife, has been a vocal supporter of gay marriage, “I
believe in people's right to choose a partner that they love, and
that's a decision that I have come to, and I have felt that way for a
long time,” she told KNBC-TV before the election.