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The California legislature has stepped up for equality again. Yesterday the Senate passed a bill extending the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. The Assembly had already approved the bill which now goes to the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is the second time that legislature has approved a marriage equality bill. In 2005 Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill.

The bill past the legislature in both 2005 and 2007 on a party line votes with Democrats voting for the bill and all of the Republicans voting to continue marriage discrimination against same-sex families.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, had this to say:

This historic vote shows that support for ending the ban of same-sex couples from marriage is not only holding steady, but growing. We congratulate Assemblymember Leno for his incredible leadership on this issue and applaud the Legislature for representing the people of California in supporting fairness and equality.

Equality California is the statewide LGBT advocacy group that led efforts to pass the bill. The Equality California PAC was also supported pro-marriage candidates in the 2006 elections which helped to increase the number of supporters of marriage equality in the legislature.

Governor Schwarzenneger has until October 14 to sign the bill.