SACRAMENTO (AP) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would veto a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in California for the second time if state lawmakers pass it again this year.

In June 2005, the California Legislature became the first legislative body in the United States to vote in favor of allowing same-sex couples to wed. Schwarzenegger refused to sign the measure, saying it was in conflict with a 2000 voter-approved measure that shored up the state’s one man, one woman marriage laws.

Assemblymember Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, reintroduced the same-sex marriage bill in December, but Schwarzenegger said on Thursday that his thoughts about it have not changed in the last year and a half.

“I wouldn’t sign it because the people of California have voted on that issue,” Schwarzenegger told a high school student who asked him about the bill at a California YMCA Youth and Government conference.

The governor said voters should make the decision, “but it should not be me or the Legislature.”

Geoffrey Kors, executive of the gay rights lobbying group Equality California, said Friday that he hoped Schwarzenegger would take the time to meet with gay and lesbian couples before promising another veto.

“How would the governor feel if his right to marry First Lady Maria Shriver had been put to a popular vote?” Kors said.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage advanced out of the Republican-controlled Senate Monday after little debate.

The resolution passed 39-10 and now heads to the House, which Democrats control 51-49. House Speaker Patrick Bauer said last year that he would allow a vote on the proposed amendment.

The General Assembly two years ago overwhelmingly approved a resolution on the amendment. For the amendment to become official, it would have to pass the General Assembly this year or next without any changes, and then be approved in a statewide vote in the 2008 general election.

“By passing this amendment, we give voters the right to decide whether the definition of marriage should be preserved in its traditional form,” said Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield. “I trust Hoosiers to make the decision.”

Hershman and other proponents say the amendment is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage from lawsuits and activist judges. But opponents say the proposal is discriminatory and could have unintended consequences for laws and policies that affect all unmarried couples.

Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said the amendment may put into jeopardy some of the state’s domestic violence laws that apply to both married and unmarried couples.

“We can rest assured that some crafty criminal defense attorneys are going to be using that to their advantage,” he said.

The amendment has two sections, the first saying that marriage in Indiana is solely the union of one man and one woman. The second says the state constitution or state law cannot be construed to provide the benefits of marriage on unmarried couples or groups.

The proposal next moves to the House. Bauer said last year that he would allow a second vote on the proposed amendment during this session. Bauer said it was unnecessary because existing state law prohibits same-sex marriage, but said that allowing a second vote was the only way to prevent Republicans from fanning flames over the issue.

House Republicans tried to get the proposal passed a first time in 2004, but they were in the minority and Bauer refused to let it advance or even be debated. Bauer’s refusal to allow debate may have contributed to Democrats losing control of the House later that year because Republicans used it as a major campaign issue in some races.

HELENA (AP) – A Senate panel shelved a bill Wednesday that would have outlawed discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The bill by Sen. Christine Kaufmann, an openly gay Helena Democrat, would have added “gender identity or expression” and “sexual orientation” as categories under the laws prohibiting discrimination. The laws currently cover race, religion, gender and other areas.

The measure was tabled by the Senate Judiciary Committee after it failed on a 7-5 vote.

In a legislative hearing earlier this month, opponents said the measure discriminated against Christians who believe homosexuality is immoral, and extended legal privileges that will be used in ways that can’t be predicted.

Supporters, which included civil and gay rights advocates and the governor’s office, said it made good on promises of equality set out in the state and U.S. constitutions. Kaufmann compared the measure to the civil rights movement.

A similar bill failed in the 2005 Legislature.

MOUNT LAUREL (AP) – Same-sex couples who legally married elsewhere will have all the rights of married people in New Jersey, but they can’t call themselves married, the state’s attorney general decided Friday.

New Jersey should consider those couples to be in civil unions rather than marriages, Attorney General Stuart Rabner said in the opinion for the state Department of Health and Senior Services, which is responsible for registering civil unions.

Civil unions, which will be available in New Jersey starting Monday, grant all the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples.

Gay rights activists were happy to have the clarity and to learn that the civil unions will be granted automatically, but said recognizing marriages as civil unions is unfair and possibly discriminatory.

“That seems like the fairest thing under the circumstances,” said Joan Hervey, a Plainfield woman who went to Canada to marry her partner. “It will be perfect once they call it marriage.”

Steven Goldstein, the executive director of Garden State Equality, said he expects lawsuits over the issue.

Same-sex couples married in Massachusetts, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain will be recognized as civil union partners, as will couples who have entered into civil unions in Vermont and Connecticut. Domestic partners in California – where domestic partnership works much like a New Jersey civil union – will also be considered civil unions.

Couples who have domestic partnerships with lesser obligations and benefits than marriage, such as those in Maine and Washington, D.C., will be considered domestic partners in New Jersey.

Domestic partnerships have been available in the Garden State for nearly three years and offer only a handful of the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

New Jersey lawmakers voted in December to create civil unions after the state Supreme Court in October forced their hand. The court ruled in favor of extending all the rights of same-sex couples, but left implementation to lawmakers.

NEW YORK (AP) – New York unveiled the official city condom in midtown Manhattan, just in time for the Valentine’s Day holiday.

Volunteers handed them out free at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street. The city’s health department program already distributes 1.5 million free condoms each month, but officials hope a new city-themed wrapper will help them track their disease-prevention efforts better.

The new design is said to revolve around a subway theme, with different colors for the various train lines.

Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden recently told The Associated Press that the distinctive wrapper will provide the opportunity to include questions about the condom on the city’s annual health survey.

“We ask, ‘Did you use a condom the last time you had sex?’ And once this is launched, the next time we ask that question, of those people who say yes, we’ll say, ‘What did the wrapper look like?’” Frieden said. “And if they describe our wrapper, then we’ll know that they would have used our condom.”

The city negotiated a deal with the maker of the LifeStyles brand for 4 cents per condom, putting the expense to the city at just $720,000 annually, health officials said.

More than 100,000 of New York’s 8.2 million residents are living with HIV or AIDS, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been focused on reducing those rates and overall instances of sexually transmitted diseases.

The condom launch took place at the Kenneth Cole store, where the clothing company also planned to unveil a T-shirt and boxer shorts to complement the campaign.