Bush Pushes for Ban on Gay Marriage
Vote on
Constitutional Amendment Could Come This Week
Associated Press
Sunday, July 11, 2004; Page A10
President Bush said yesterday that legalizing gay marriage would redefine the
most fundamental institution of civilization and that a constitutional amendment
is needed to protect it. A few activist judges and local officials have taken it on themselves to
change the meaning of marriage, Bush said in his weekly radio address. Leading the chorus of support for an amendment, Bush said, "If courts create
their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract and cut
marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots, then the meaning of
marriage is lost, and the institution is weakened." His remarks follow the opening of Senate debate Friday on a constitutional
amendment effectively banning gay marriage. Reflecting the election-year sensitivity of the issue, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy
(D-Vt.) said Republicans are using the constitutional amendment as a bulletin
board for campaign sloganeering. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) accused the Democratic presidential candidate,
Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), of holding inconsistent positions. Kerry and running mate Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) oppose gay marriage but
support civil unions. Bush singled out Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court, which called marriage
an evolving paradigm. "That sends a message to the next generation that marriage
has no enduring meaning and that ages of moral teaching and human experience
have nothing to teach us about this institution," he said. The president urged the House and Senate to send to the states for
ratification an amendment that defines marriage in the United States as a union
of a man and woman as husband and wife. Senate Democrats signaled they will not throw barriers in front of the
resolution, paving the way for a vote on the amendment as early as this
Wednesday. A constitutional amendment should never be undertaken lightly, Bush said,
"yet to defend marriage, our nation has no other choice." The vote puts some Democrats and Republicans in a difficult position. One
senator acknowledged the political risk in trying to walk a line supporting both
traditional marriage and gay rights. "I intend to be your champion on many issues in the future, if you want me,"
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) said in remarks directed at gay and lesbian voters.
Smith is a leader in efforts to make attacks against homosexuals a federal hate
crime. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political organization,
said the president and congressional allies "should focus on the priorities of
the American people, not the agenda of their extremist base."