California ‘Governator’ Arnold Schwarzenegger has just signed a bill creating an annual day of recognition for pioneering gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

May 22 shall henceforth be known as “Harvey Milk Day” and schools in California will be encouraged to honour and remember the murdered gay politician who kicked off the modern day gay rights movement, and who inspired the 2008 Oscar-winning film Milk.

Milk was California’s first openly gay elected official and May 22 was his birthday. Last year Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, saying that Milk’s legacy “should continue to be recognised at the local level.”

Conservative groups are calling it “Gay Day” and that some parents may not want their children to focus on sexuality for an entire school day.

Schwarzenegger also signed SB-54, a bill which will mean that gay marriages performed in other states during the nearly five months such unions were legal in California will now be recognised, and given the same protections given to other domestic partners.

The move comes after the release of survey results from the Pew Research Center that found 57% of the 4,000 people surveyed thought that gay couples should be able to have their unions legally recognised through civil partnerships, an increase from 45% in 2003. Only 39% said they supported gay marriage.

The Pew Research survey also found that 49% of respondents felt that homosexuality was morally wrong. Only 9% said it was morally acceptable and 35% said it was not a moral issue.