History repeats itself. After an 8 percent decline in his approval rating since January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week vetoed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (AB 43), a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry.

Sound familiar? It should. Writing the governor’s record on same-sex marriage legislation could be a copy-and-paste job.

In 2005, when Schwarzenegger’s approval rating dipped to an all-time low, 36 percent, the Governator vetoed AB 849 – a historic piece of same-sex marriage legislation.

Déjà vu.

After signing seven GLBT bills into law last week, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the one that would have supported marriage equality.

Last month, when Schwarzenegger pledged to veto the bill, which passed the state Assembly with a 42-34 vote and the state Senate 22-15, he deferred to the “will of the voters.” In 2000, 62 percent of voters passed Proposition 22, a murky, roundabout law that allows only opposite-sex couples to marry.

Knowing, perhaps, that the “will-of-the-voters” excuse is so 2005, Schwarzenegger added an addendum to his veto this time around: the marriage equality case before the California Supreme Court will decide the fate of California’s same-sex couples, he said.

According to an Associated Press report, Schwarzenegger said when he vetoed the bill that Californians should not be “discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation.” And then he vetoed AB 43, essentially discriminating against thousands of same-sex couples based on their sexual orientation.

Schwarzenegger’s monumental lack of leadership coupled with his hypocrisy on same-sex marriage legislation is disappointing for a number of reasons.

First, in the eight years after the proponents of Proposition 22 finagled support for the act in 2000, opposition to same-sex marriage has slimmed.

A 2006 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California says 47 percent of likely voters support marriage equality and 46 percent oppose.

Further, the sheer will of the voters elected the state Assembly and the state Senate, and the Legislature sided with marriage equality.

Schwarzenegger remains resolute on inaction – he’ll let the voters and the courts decide this one, thank you.

In a 2005 editorial on Schwarzenegger’s veto of AB 849, the Gay & Lesbian Times wrote, “History has demonstrated the failure of majority rule to be an effective form of governance, as the fundamental rights of the minority must be protected. It is those who stand against the majority [who] are remembered in our nation’s history.”

The seven GLBT-specific bills Gov. Schwarzenegger did sign last week protect the basic, equal rights of members of the GLBT community, and for that, we are grateful.

In particular, we’re thankful that youth who identify as GLBT will be afforded protection from bullying and harassment in schools and in juvenile justice facilities.

But, our governor failed to sign AB 43, a bill that could have been a turning point in California’s history – a bill that would have afforded same-sex couples the same fundamental rights opposite-sex couples enjoy.

Sure, Schwarzenegger would have faced a firestorm of criticism, and the new law would have been challenged, but Schwarzenegger twice has had an opportunity to pioneer civil rights for the GLBT community, and twice he has failed us.

It’s the kind of weak return we’d expect from a sequel to Kindergarten Cop, but it’s not the kind of leadership we’d expect from our governor.