By Hilary White
SACRAMENTO, September 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Democrat-controlled Senate of California has approved a bill imposing homosexual “marriage” on the state. The Senate voted 22-15 to substitute the term “two persons” for “man and wife” in state references to marriage.
Bill AB43 was the project of state Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco, a homosexual activist. It was opposed by every Republican member of the Senate and supported by all but three Democrats.
WorldNet Daily quoted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger saying last year that the definition of marriage “could be changed.” The governor pointed to the loosening of the definition of marriage through state recognition of registered “domestic partners”, with the same rights and duties as married couples, as providing precedent.
Other pro-family observers have said that the extension of such recognition, as well as legalized no-fault divorce, in jurisdictions around the world has opened the door to the abolition of the legal institution of marriage.
Former Assemblyman Larry Bowler, a proponent of the VoteYesMarriage.com California Constitutional Marriage Amendment, told Christian News Service, “Until the people fund, qualify and pass the VoteYesMarriage.com amendment, marriage will be threatened with destruction and eventual extinction. Even Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Brown have said that the Legislature has the power to abolish marriage and yank marriage rights from husbands and wives.”
VoteYesMarriage.com is a group of citizens and advocates for marriage and family that is lobbying to amend the state constitution to establish natural marriage as the permanent legal institution in California. Citing the overwhelming support of 61.4 per cent in 2000 for Proposition 22 that stated, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” Vote YesMarriage.com is seeking to bring the amendment to public as a ballot initiative in 2008.
The bill will now go to Governor Schwarzenegger for his signature or veto.
Visit VoteYesMarriage.com
https://www.voteyesmarriage.com/