Just because the governor put a stop to marriage equality a few months ago, don't think gay legislation is down for the count. There's still plenty of work to be done: next week, the state Assembly will be voting on three gayish bills. AB 606: Safe Place to Learn Act would ensure that school districts are enforcing anti-discrimination policies; AB 1160: Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act would instruct juries that "panic strategies" (that is, saying "it's not my fault I killed him; I did it because I'm scared of gay people") is inconsistent with public policy; and AB 1207: Code of Campaign Practices would give candidates for office an opportunity to pledge that their campaign won't discriminate against GLBTs. (You can send your legislators a letter of support for the bills via EqCa's excellent Action Center.)

That last one -- AB 1207 -- came before the governor in 2005, and he vetoed it, saying that candidates should be free to discriminate against whomever they like. The fact that the pledge was didn't seem to register with him. Arnold finds himself in a very different position this year, though; now he's going to MLK breakfasts with labor leaders and pledging to start paying back the money he took from schools, so he might discover that when it comes to gay legislation, he's more accomodating that he previously thought. You might even call him versatile.

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