California First Lady Maria Shriver revealed today in an interview on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that she will vote against Proposition 8, which would eliminate marriage equality. Her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, previously announced he would oppose the measure but has been silent on it recently.
LOS ANGELES—California's first lady says she is voting against a ballot initiative that would prohibit same-sex couples from getting married in California.
Maria Shriver said in an interview with KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that she is voting no on Proposition 8.
Shriver said, "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."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also opposes Prop. 8.
I wonder if the state's first couple has donated money to the NO campaign? And I wonder if the governor, who promised the Log Cabin Republicans last spring that he would "be there" to defeat the measure, will take any time from further destruction to the state's budget to speak out this final week against hate?
Back in April, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to fight any attempt to pass a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. "I will always be there to fight against that because it should never happen," he told the Log Cabin Republicans at their San Diego convention -- a month before the state Supreme Court recognized the right of gays and lesbians to marry. And after that ruling, the governor again promised to oppose the effort to take away that right -- now known as Proposition 8.
But Schwarzenegger has been awfully quiet about an issue that could use his visible presence. Not that he has switched camps. He just hasn't been showing up to remind Californians that they generally champion expansive civil rights, not the elimination of such rights. He hasn't been around to reassure voters that their churches won't have to conduct same-sex marriages and their preschoolers won't have to attend gay weddings.
He attends rallies for Proposition 11, on redistricting, but is quiet about opposing Prop. 8.
Arnold built his California political persona around education. He should speak out about the lies being told about Prop 8 about schoolchildren. And he should speak out now.
Donate to NO on Prop 8 right here, please. We need your support to defeat hate in California.
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Please Digg this diary if you like it.
Thank you!
And freaking loudly!
Rec’d Teddy!
Yes, now would be a damn good time, and LOUD would be the appropriate volume.
Despite his failures as Governor, Arnold is still respected in pockets of the state where NO could really use the help. And his platform was education. He needs to make some noise.
Freaking termed-out has-been. Time to make a useful, compassionate, lasting mark.
He did say the other day lots of people were asking him if there was a lot of arguing at home, since he supports McCain/Palin and his wife supports Obama/Biden, and the kids are split too. He said there wasn’t so much fighting now that he was sleeping in the garage.
OK, that’s funny!
Teddy, are the people of San Francisco going to allow Condi to be president of the 49ers?
Let this be the last dying gasp of the GOP/Christian rite trying to rule people’s lives with their madness….the last ever in America.
Oh my, I had not heard or seen that news.
Although — there are people who say Condi enjoyed her frequent visits to San Francisco when she was at Stanford. I wonder whether her house-sharing friend in Palo Alto would move up here with her, or whether they would live down on the Peninsula.
The 49ers need a lobbyist to get a new stadium built at taxpayer expense, a project that lags way behind. I wonder if Condi has any interest, or clout, in that department? Seems like a big step down, even from being Worst Secretary of State EVER.
Teddy:
Do they really think that Condi lobbying the denizens of SF would help their stadium cause? Somehow, I don’t think so.
Dugg, thanks for the link. Thanks for the post.
interesting!
thanks teddy
Well isn’t that special.
And even MORE special It’s Frank O’Hara Day!
Had Frank not been hit by that dune buggy on Fire Island back in 1966, I’m sure he would have married Vincent Warren.
When Ahhhnold runs for the Senate -he won’t be able to pretend he’s progressive -now he will have a record and being silent speaks volumes
This is a report on some of the donors to both sides of the campaign from Channel 7 in Los Angeles. Note the Blackwater connection.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — California’s Proposition 8 has generated nearly $60 million in campaign contributions so far, making the fight over same-sex marriage over the most costly ballot initiative in the country this year, it was reported Sunday.
Supporters of Proposition 8, so far, have raised $27.5 million, with about 19 percent of the money coming from outside California. Opponents have raised $31.2 million, with 34 percent of the money coming from outside the state, reported the Los Angeles Times.
California law permits donors to give unlimited sums on ballot measure, opening the way for million-dollar donors.
Many donors cite religious beliefs, with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints emerging as the largest source of money to the Yes- on-8 effort. Mormons contributed about 40 percent of its war chest.
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On the opposite end, primary contributors have included celebrities, liberal groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, public employee unions and gay philanthropists.
Specifically, Elsa Prince, a contributor to Republican causes and candidates including Republican Presidential nominee John McClain, gave $450,000 to support Proposition 8. She is the mother of Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater Worldwide, the private firm that provides security in Iraq.
On the flip side, Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo, Mich., a billionaire heir to a medical supply fortune, gave $1.06 million to defeat Proposition 8. David Maltz of Cleveland, a major Democratic donor, added another $1 million.
The California Teachers Association spent $1.3 million — more than any other single donor — to defeat Proposition 8.
The California arm of the Service Employees International Union threw in $500,000.
The Yes-on-8 campaign have been particularly adept at getting small donations, with 30 percent of its money coming from contributors giving $1,000 or less.
Between 2004 and 2006, 22 such measures were on ballots around the country, and donations to all of them combined totaled $31.4 million, according to the nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics.
Although many initiatives are largely funded by parties with an economic interest in them, reports The Times, Proposition 8 contributors by and large have nothing to gain financially from the measure’s passage or defeat.
Dugg and recommended
Teddy I am praying this hate proposition goes down to defeat! Hate is never a reason to make a law or create a constitutional change! Besides what gay/lesbian couples is none of their business and for the proponents to push this goes against all I know about what Christ had to say and teach us!
Arnold could do a PSA that would be both helpful and entertaining, something along the line of “Let’s TERMINATE Proposition 8.”
OT CNN - guilty verdicts coming in on Ted Stevens
o/t
Breaking - Ted Stevens Guilty
Ted toobz is guilty on all counts against him..breaking from CNN. Yahoo for Alaska!!
Guilty on all counts - unanimous
OK OK whats your preference cbl2?? Coke , Sprite, Pepsi ????