California state legislature passes same-sex marriage bill

September 8, 2005

On Wednesday, the lower house or State Assembly of the State Legislature of the US state of California passed a controversial new bill that would redefine marriage as the union between two people, as opposed to a man and a woman (text). The California State Senate, the upper house, had already acceded to this.

A critical swing vote came from Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) of Orange County, the second largest California county, which is predominantly conservative. He was ushered on by Senator Joe Dunn of the same constituency. The voting predominantly followed party lines, with no Republican supporting the bill and few Democrats opposing it.

A spokeswoman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will veto the bill "out of respect for the will of the people" in the approval of Proposition 22, which opposed recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages.