WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush is drawing fire from both the left and the right after he made comments in a television interview that appeared simultaneously to endorse a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and support states' rights to create marriage-like “civil unions” for same-sex couples.
In a interview with ABC-TV's Diane Sawyer, televised Dec. 16, Bush appeared to back an effort in Congress to amend the constitution to ban marriage and “the legal incidents thereof” to same-sex couples. Called the Federal Marriage Amendment, it has received major publicity since recent court rulings expanding gay rights.
Religious Right groups strongly support the proposal. Although previously the White House had avoided endorsing the amendment, Bush appeared to cast his support behind it in the interview. “If necessary, I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that,” Bush said when asked about the issue, according to a transcript.
However, Bush also told Sawyer that “the position of this administration is that whatever legal arrangements people want to make, they're allowed to make, so long as it's embraced by the state or at the state level.”
Many on both sides of the issue interpreted that statement to mean Bush would support states' rights to create “civil unions,” or state-sanctioned arrangements that confer most or all of the legal benefits and responsibilities of marriage on same-sex couples. Vermont already has a civil-unions law, and California recently began conferring domestic-partnership benefits to same-sex couples.
However, many conservative groups that form the base of Bush's support oppose any legalization of civil unions. In his Dec. 17 e-mail newsletter to supporters, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said he was “concerned that the President thinks counterfeit institutions such as same-sex unions are OK and do not threaten to devalue the real thing.”
When asked to clarify the issue during his regular Dec. 18 briefing, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan simply reiterated Bush's comments.
“The president has always been strongly supportive of the principle that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman, and that he will do what it takes to protect and defend the sanctity of marriage,” McClellan told reporters.
However, he added, “We said, going back to the [2000 presidential] campaign, that states have the right to decide legal arrangements that they so choose.”
But the leader of the nation's largest gay and lesbian Republican organization expressed concern about Bush's apparent support for the amendment. “While we are pleased that the president has clearly stated his support of states' rights, we are concerned that the president said he might support amending the United States Constitution,” said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, in a Dec. 16 statement.
“The proposed Federal Marriage Amendment would not only ban civil recognition of gay families, it would also strip fundamental rights and responsibilities from those families,” Guerriero continued. “Supporting the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment is wrong, it is not necessary and would codify discrimination in our Constitution.”
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