ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

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TweetGirly-men' comment sparks anger

DEMOCRATS SAY GOVERNOR'S REMARKS SATURDAY WERE SEXIST

By Tim Molloy

Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday that the governor would not apologize for calling lawmakers ``girly-men,'' despite criticisms from Democrats that the remark was sexist and homophobic.

Schwarzenegger said during a rally Saturday that Democrats were blocking his $103 billion proposal for the fiscal year that began July 1, by catering to special interests, and that the lawmakers were ``girly-men'' if they refused to admit it. He also said Californians should vote out lawmakers who stand in the way of passing the budget.

``If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, `I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers . . .' if they don't have the guts, I call them girly-men,'' Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario.

The governor lifted the term from a long-running ``Saturday Night Live'' skit in which two pompous, Schwarzenegger-worshiping weightlifters repeatedly use it to mock those who do not meet their standards of physical perfection.

Democrats said Schwarzenegger's remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. Sen. Sheila Kuehl, a Los Angeles Democrat, said the governor had resorted to ``blatant homophobia.''

``It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That's very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership,'' said Kuehl, one of five members of the Legislature's five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus.

``It's ironic that the governor would try to find a metaphor for weakness when his real problem is that we're being too strong,'' she said.

At a rally Sunday in Stockton, the governor gave a speech almost identical to the one he delivered in Ontario but without the ``girly-men'' remark. Communications Director Rob Stutzman said the line was dropped because Schwarzenegger had already sent the message he wanted to send, not because he regretted his remarks.

``It's a forceful way of making the point to regular Californians that legislators are wimps when they let special interests push them around,'' Stutzman said. ``If they complain too much about this, I guess they're making the governor's point.''

The governor said in his criticism of Democrats that they were working for unions and trial lawyers because of their support for two labor bills. One law prohibits schools from contracting services with private companies and the other gives workers authority to sue their employers to enforce labor laws.


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The New York Times contributed to this report.

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