SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gray Davis may be known as a lackluster politician, but he’s earned his rainbow stripes when it comes to gay and lesbian issues.

Racing to hold onto his office, Davis has solidified his record as a gay rights champion, signing or endorsing nearly the entire agenda of the Legislature’s new gay and lesbian caucus, including a bill he vetoed last year.

This from a chief executive who once warned activists he would consider only one gay-related bill at a time.

“Naturally there will be a little bit of a bonanza on many fronts because of the unusual election season,” said Carole Migden, a former San Francisco assemblywoman who sponsored many of the landmark gay rights bills Davis approved during his first term.

His strong support for gay rights has made Davis unpopular with conservative groups. The Campaign for California Families accuses him of “pandering to the radical homosexual and transsexual activists,” and “Recall ‘Gay’ Davis” is a sign waved at pro-recall rallies.

But voters angered by gay rights laws don’t need new reasons to vote Davis out of office.

Indeed, before he was re-elected last November, Davis signed at least 10 laws that expanded civil rights for gay Californians, including bills creating a statewide registry for same-sex couples and granting them some of the legal standing of married spouses. He appointed a lesbian, then a gay man to serve as his cabinet secretary and has named nine gay and lesbian judges.

Among the gay-friendly measures Davis signed recently were bills extending to domestic partners the remaining rights and responsibilities of married couples the state can grant without conflicting with federal law, strengthening job and housing protections for transgender people, and requiring foster parents to undergo anti-discrimination training that can include sexual orientation among other topics. He vetoed the foster care bill last year when it carried a stronger mandate.

“It’s been a watershed year,” said Lorri Jean, executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. “Gray’s record hasn’t been perfect, but when you compare what has happened in California under his leadership he is clearly among the most supportive governors out there.”

Davis is counting on gay voters — along with Latinos and labor unions — among the core supporters he needs to vote against the recall. Last November, 69 percent of voters who identified themselves as gay or lesbian voted for him, according to Eric Bauman, one of seven openly gay staff members in the governor’s office.

“When you start to assemble the voter block that we need to defeat this recall, obviously gay and lesbian voters are a significant portion,” said Bauman, who is on leave from his job directing the governor’s Los Angeles office to help run the anti-recall campaign.

In fact, a recent Field Poll found that more than seven in 10 California voters surveyed support granting same-sex couples legal rights. Among recall candidates, only Republican Sen. Tom McClintock opposes state recognition of domestic partnerships.

Equality California, the state’s largest lobbying group on gay issues, was one of the first organizations to publicly condemn the recall. The group also endorsed Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as a replacement candidate.

Advocates who have worked with Davis over the years insist his commitment to gay rights is more personal conviction than political calculation. They note that the governor and his wife, Sharon, were married at the home of Sheldon Andelson, a University of California regent who died of AIDS in 1987. As an assemblymember, Davis represented the gay enclave of West Hollywood when AIDS was decimating the community. He and his wife still maintain their home there.

“I think he fundamentally believes in equal rights for all and he has always acted in that way,” said Diane Abbitt, co-chair of Equality California. “Clearly, he has been a friend to this community.”

That friendship hasn’t been free of conflict. Michael Marshall, who chairs Equality California’s political action committee, said the governor’s preference for tackling issues incrementally “oftentimes makes the community feel as if it’s fighting for table scraps instead of a place at the table.”

Marshall cited as an example the governor’s veto last year of the foster care legislation even after its sponsor had amended it to win his support.

“But I have to temper that with practically speaking, he still has signed the most gay-friendly legislation in California history,” Marshall said.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, one of the Legislature’s three uncloseted lesbians, thinks activists take Davis for granted.

Before Davis, Kuehl noted, couples could not sue for a partner’s wrongful death or make medical decisions on each other’s behalf, adoption agencies automatically opposed allowing gay couples to adopt foster children, and jurors could be excluded from service because of their sexual orientation.

Migden says Davis is even stronger on gay rights than Howard Dean, whose signing of Vermont’s civil union’s law gave him early credibility with gays and lesbians that helped his climb to Democratic presidential front-runner status.

California’s domestic partners registry “surpasses the achievement in Vermont” because it was created not under court order, but “by a willing Legislature and willing governor,” Migden said.

Davis hasn’t said whether he’ll sign a bill on his desk requiring contractors to provide domestic partner benefits before doing business with the state, which would be a national first.

“This governor is incremental in all things, and some of us feel strongly that with that approach he has achieved a great deal more than other elected officials who are flashier,” said his cabinet secretary, Daniel Zingale. “But step-by-step it adds up.”