President George W. Bush came out with public support for passage of a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
TRIANGLE FOUNATION RELEASE:
December 17, 2003
Sean Kosofsky
BUSH: ANTI-GAY GRINCH
President Uses Holiday Time to say Gay Families Don't Matter
(Washington, D.C.) - President George W. Bush stated that he would support a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. The statement was made on national television in an interview with Diane Sawyer.
Until now Bush had not indicated support for a Constitutional amendment. Bills have been introduced in both Houses of Congress to ban marriage equality for same-sex couples. The measures would need to pass 2/3 of each chamber and pass ¾ of all state legislatures in order to succeed in amending the Consitution. Most political insiders believe the measure does not have enough support in Congress to pass and the public is against amending the Constitution.
"This could be Bush's biggest political miscalculation yet," said Sean Kosofsky, Director of Policy for Triangle Foundation, Michigan's leading civil rights organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. "Tens of millions of Americans love and care about someone who is gay or lesbian, and this divisive message, especially during the holidays, will only alienate and marginalize those voters and their families. I wonder how Mary Cheney, Vice President Cheney's lesbian daughter, feels about Bush's position.
"Bush has launched unprecedented attacks on civil liberties, making a mockery of the oath he took when he assumed the presidency," said Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of Triangle Foundation. "The appointment of John Ashcroft, the PATRIOT Act, and his so-called `faith-based initiatives' have proved to be severe Bush assaults on liberty and freedom. Now he wants to legalize discrimination. This is either blatant pandering or simple meanness. In either case it's a perversion of American values."
It should be noted that although a majority of Americans do not yet support marriages for gay and lesbian couples, a majority of Americans oppose banning it. They feel it is mean-spirited. An ABC News poll earlier this fall found that only 20% of the American public support banning marriage equality for gays in the U.S. Constitution.
Michigan has a similar threat to the state constitution. State Senator Alan Cropsey has introduced measure, Senate Joint Resolution E, that would ban marriage equality for gays and lesbians.
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Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003
PRESIDENT REPORTEDLY SUPPORTING ANTI-GAY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
HRC Expresses Grave Concern about Reports that President Would Join Attacks on American Families
WASHINGTON - Human Rights Campaign Political Director Winnie Stachelberg made the following statement regarding an ABCNEWS.com report that President Bush told Diane Sawyer in an interview airing tonight that "he would support a Constitutional amendment 'which would honor marriage between a man and a woman.'"
"We are gravely concerned by reports that the president would join in these attacks on American families. We will closely monitor this interview to more completely understand his position. To be clear, it is never necessary to insert prejudice and discrimination into the U.S. Constitution -- a document that has a proud history of being used to expand an individual's liberty and freedom, not to take them away. Of all people, the American president should know this.
"The amendment pending in Congress would go much further than defining marriage as between a man and a woman. It could strip away any legal protection for millions of hard-working, tax-paying Americans and their children, including the right to Social Security survivor benefits,
to the right to inherit a partner's property without heavy tax penalties, even the right to visit a loved one in the hospital. And any attempt to use this amendment to score a few votes is a strategy sure to backfire and cost elected officials their claims of compassionate
conservativism."
According to a November 2003 survey by the Pew Research Center, only 10 percent of Americans favor a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex
marriage.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender political organization with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that GLBT Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.