http://www.iht.com/articles/126065.html
On gay marriage, Bush co-opts polarizing issue
Brian Knowlton IHT Thursday, January 22, 2004
WASHINGTON By raising the possibility of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, President George W. Bush invoked a polarizing issue that both Democrats and homosexuals said Wednesday that they feared might be used against them.
At the same time, conservative groups, representing the core base of Bush's support, loudly applauded his words.
Bush framed his comments carefully in his State of the Union message to the nation Tuesday. He did not explicitly call for a constitutional amendment now, but, hardening his earlier language, said that it could become "the only alternative." "Activist judges," Bush said, had "begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives." "On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard," he said. "If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."
Gay rights groups saw Bush's comments - the first time he had raised the issue in a State of the Union speech, and his most pointed message yet on the subject - as an attempt to roll back gains they had made in states like Vermont and Massachusetts toward the right to marry or enter civil unions that protect their legal status.
"We are obviously disappointed," said Michael Adams, a lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights group. "We think it's very unfortunate that the president insists on using the lives of gay and lesbian couples and their families as red meat for his political base." Adams added, in a phone interview, that he hoped Bush did not push the issue. "We don't view rights of gays and lesbians as a political football," he said. The opposite view was expressed by Gerald D'Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.
"We feel marriage should be between one man and one woman, and hopefully that will continue to be not only the law of the land, but help a perpetuation of society," he said. His group is actively pushing for the State Legislature to overturn a state court approval of same-sex marriages by means of a constitutional ban.
Some Democrats also suggested that Bush had raised the thorny issue chiefly to appease and energize his conservative base in a presidential election year. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, had suggested as much earlier. Conservatives like "Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay and all those guys are looking for a real hand grenade to throw into the Democratic Party," he told the Advocate, a gay oriented publication. "It's an absurd issue, and it's one of the reasons I'm running." Such cultural issues as gay rights and abortion have often disfavored Democrats; Bush's stance on marriage is likely to draw favor, for instance, in important electoral states of the South. A New York Times/CBS poll in December found strong support for the idea of a constitutional amendment to allow marriage only between a man and a woman - even among people traditionally seen as gay-rights supporters, such as Democrats, women and people on the East Coast. The nationwide poll found that Americans, by 55 percent to 40 percent, favored such an amendment.
The issue might cut further against Democrats because two leading presidential candidates, former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, are identified, at least by association through their states' actions, with the issue.
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The New York Times
Back to Start of Article WASHINGTON By raising the possibility of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, President George W. Bush invoked a polarizing issue that both Democrats and homosexuals said Wednesday that they feared might be used against them.
.
At the same time, conservative groups, representing the core base of Bush's support, loudly applauded his words.
.
Bush framed his comments carefully in his State of the Union message to the nation Tuesday. He did not explicitly call for a constitutional amendment now, but, hardening his earlier language, said that it could become "the only alternative." "Activist judges," Bush said, had "begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives." "On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard," he said. "If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."
.
Gay rights groups saw Bush's comments - the first time he had raised the issue in a State of the Union speech, and his most pointed message yet on the subject - as an attempt to roll back gains they had made in states like Vermont and Massachusetts toward the right to marry or enter civil unions that protect their legal status.
.
"We are obviously disappointed," said Michael Adams, a lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights group. "We think it's very unfortunate that the president insists on using the lives of gay and lesbian couples and their families as red meat for his political base." Adams added, in a phone interview, that he hoped Bush did not push the issue. "We don't view rights of gays and lesbians as a political football," he said. The opposite view was expressed by Gerald D'Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.
.
"We feel marriage should be between one man and one woman, and hopefully that will continue to be not only the law of the land, but help a perpetuation of society," he said. His group is actively pushing for the State Legislature to overturn a state court approval of same-sex marriages by means of a constitutional ban.
.
Some Democrats also suggested that Bush had raised the thorny issue chiefly to appease and energize his conservative base in a presidential election year. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, had suggested as much earlier. Conservatives like "Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay and all those guys are looking for a real hand grenade to throw into the Democratic Party," he told the Advocate, a gay oriented publication. "It's an absurd issue, and it's one of the reasons I'm running." Such cultural issues as gay rights and abortion have often disfavored Democrats; Bush's stance on marriage is likely to draw favor, for instance, in important electoral states of the South. A New York Times/CBS poll in December found strong support for the idea of a constitutional amendment to allow marriage only between a man and a woman - even among people traditionally seen as gay-rights supporters, such as Democrats, women and people on the East Coast. The nationwide poll found that Americans, by 55 percent to 40 percent, favored such an amendment.
.
The issue might cut further against Democrats because two leading presidential candidates, former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, are identified, at least by association through their states' actions, with the issue.
.
The New York Times WASHINGTON By raising the possibility of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, President George W. Bush invoked a polarizing issue that both Democrats and homosexuals said Wednesday that they feared might be used against them.
.
At the same time, conservative groups, representing the core base of Bush's support, loudly applauded his words.
.
Bush framed his comments carefully in his State of the Union message to the nation Tuesday. He did not explicitly call for a constitutional amendment now, but, hardening his earlier language, said that it could become "the only alternative." "Activist judges," Bush said, had "begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives." "On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard," he said. "If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."
.
Gay rights groups saw Bush's comments - the first time he had raised the issue in a State of the Union speech, and his most pointed message yet on the subject - as an attempt to roll back gains they had made in states like Vermont and Massachusetts toward the right to marry or enter civil unions that protect their legal status.
.
"We are obviously disappointed," said Michael Adams, a lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights group. "We think it's very unfortunate that the president insists on using the lives of gay and lesbian couples and their families as red meat for his political base." Adams added, in a phone interview, that he hoped Bush did not push the issue. "We don't view rights of gays and lesbians as a political football," he said. The opposite view was expressed by Gerald D'Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.
.
"We feel marriage should be between one man and one woman, and hopefully that will continue to be not only the law of the land, but help a perpetuation of society," he said. His group is actively pushing for the State Legislature to overturn a state court approval of same-sex marriages by means of a constitutional ban.
.
Some Democrats also suggested that Bush had raised the thorny issue chiefly to appease and energize his conservative base in a presidential election year. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, had suggested as much earlier. Conservatives like "Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay and all those guys are looking for a real hand grenade to throw into the Democratic Party," he told the Advocate, a gay oriented publication. "It's an absurd issue, and it's one of the reasons I'm running." Such cultural issues as gay rights and abortion have often disfavored Democrats; Bush's stance on marriage is likely to draw favor, for instance, in important electoral states of the South. A New York Times/CBS poll in December found strong support for the idea of a constitutional amendment to allow marriage only between a man and a woman - even among people traditionally seen as gay-rights supporters, such as Democrats, women and people on the East Coast. The nationwide poll found that Americans, by 55 percent to 40 percent, favored such an amendment.
.
The issue might cut further against Democrats because two leading presidential candidates, former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, are identified, at least by association through their states' actions, with the issue.[/quote]
So typical. It never occurs to gay extremists and their supporters that the President's thoughts on marriage are genuine. Don't they know that he's a religious man? Has that even registered in their brains?