Schwarzenegger to help raise money for gay Republicans group

SAN FRANCISCO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to headline a fundraiser for gay Republicans in Hollywood next week in what would be his first appearance in front of a gay audience since he took office, according to the event's organizers.

The June 29 fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans comes as Schwarzenegger considers whether to veto a bill that would require chapters from gay history to be added to public school text books in California. The governor already has indicated he opposes the measure.

The governor's stock has been down with gay rights groups since he vetoed a gay marriage bill in September. The action won him the dubious honor of receiving this year's "pink brick" award, bestowed on the public figure who organizers of the San Francisco gay pride parade decide has most hurt the gay rights cause.

But the Log Cabin Republicans, a group for gay and lesbian GOP members that publicly parted company with President Bush after he supported a federal gay marriage ban, have stood by Schwarzenegger since they endorsed him to unseat Democrat Gray Davis during the 2003 recall.

The governor's decision to be the keynote speaker at the $250-a-plate fundraiser is a way for him to return Log Cabin's loyalty, said Log Cabin President Patrick Guerrero.

"There is a better than 50-50 chance this man will be the governor of California for the next four years, and for the gay community to label somebody based on one veto is shortsighted," Guerrero said. "We thought allowing him to address these issues in a friendly setting as well as giving him a chance to get another look at who gay and lesbian families are was important both for him and for us."

Schwarzenegger campaign spokeswoman Julie Soderlund would not comment on the governor's reasons for agreeing to headline the Log Cabin fundraiser, saying aides do not confirm aspects of Schwarzenegger's schedule until the day before an event.

Although Schwarzenegger has said repeatedly that he does not have a moral objection to same-sex couples having the right to wed, he has been just as consistent that he thinks it is up to the courts or voters not lawmakers to bring about that change.

A state appeals court is set to hear oral arguments next month on a San Francisco judge's decision striking down California's one-man, one-woman marriage laws. Guerrero said he expects Schwarzenegger to get an earful on the topic during Log Cabin's fundraising dinner.

"Clearly the event is one where he understands and the campaign understands this issue is not going away," he said.

Log Cabin has not taken a position on the gay history curriculum bill on Schwarzenegger's desk. Seth Kilbourn, political director of Equality California, the state's largest gay rights lobbying group, said the organization still is pressing the governor to change his mind.

"We applaud the Log Cabin Republicans for working for change within the Republican Party and for the governor to speak to a gay group is a welcome thing," Kilbourn said.

Ron Prentice, executive director of the California Family Council, said Schwarzenegger is not at risk of losing conservative voters by speaking to a gay group if he follows through on his promise to sink the textbook bill.

"It's no surprise with an upcoming general election Gov. Schwarzenegger is looking for all the votes he can get," Prentice said. "Any public official would be wise to listen to his constituents, but especially the majority, and I would say a family made up of a mom and a dad should have the final say on how moral issues are taught."

Dianne Feinstein once won the pink brick award. She's been generally friendly to the gay community. She voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 when gay marriage had not yet come out of the closet.

The reason she got the pink brick? After the 2004 election, she said that the subject of gay marriage "was too much, too fast" for the country. And that this led to the many states which voted to ban it that year, and may have helped re-elect Bush. That really got me, because it was a true statement. She's an ally of the gay community, and she makes a true statement, and they threw the pink brick at her. unbelievable this politically correct world we live in.

How come they never mention all the PRO-GLBT legislation that Arnold signed on the same day he vetoed the Gay Marriage bill? He has been a true friend of the GLBT.

• AB 1400 by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) - Unruh Civil Rights Act: marital status and sexual orientation
The Unruh Civil Rights Act (Act) provides that all persons, regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges and services in all business establishments of every kind. This bill clarifies that marital status and sexual orientation are among the characteristics that are protected against discrimination by business establishments under the Act. This bill also imports into the Act definitions of the terms "disability," "religion," "sex," and "sexual orientation" from the Fair Employment and Housing Act, and includes, in enumerating the above characteristics, the perception of those characteristics and association with a person who has or is perceived to have those characteristics as being within the protected categories. These definitions will be integrated into other related provisions of the Act.
• AB 1586 by Assemblymember Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) - Insurers: health care service plans: discrimination.
This bill adds additional language to existing anti-discrimination provisions under the Health and Safety Code and the Insurance Code to clarify that state law prohibits insurance companies and health care service plans from discriminating on the basis of gender in the creation or maintenance of service contracts or the provision of benefits or coverage. Defines the term "sex," in existing law that prohibits health care service plans (health plans) and insurers from specified discriminatory acts, to have the same meaning as "gender," as defined under the Penal Code, as specified.
• SB 565 by Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) - Property tax reappraisal exclusion: domestic partners.
Prior to this bill, there was no domestic partner exclusion that equates to the interspousal exclusion. This bill establishes an exclusion from reassessment for transfers of real property between registered domestic partners. The author indicated that the bill is intended "to guarantee equality for all Californians, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, and to further the state's interests in protecting Californians from the potentially severe economic and social consequences of abandonment, separation, the death of a partner, and other life crises."
• SB 973 by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) - Public employees' retirement: domestic partners.
Bill amends the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), and the County Employees Retirement Act of 1937 to entitle retired members to elect to change optional retirement allowances to provide for their domestic partners.
• AB 228 by Assemblymember Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) - Transplantation services: human immunodeficiency virus.
Prohibits health care service plans (health plans) and health insurers from denying coverage for organ or tissue transplantation services on the basis that an enrollee, subscriber, insured, or policyholder is infected with HIV.

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