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and Pushes for a Marriage Ban Major Gay and Lesbian Organizations Denounce His Comments W's Bigotry is in Contrast to Dick Cheney's Campaign Oratory
"And that's really where the issue is headed here in Washington, and that is the definition of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other. And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that." The nation's largest GLBT organizations were quick to denounce Bush's comments. Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said: "While we respect President Bush's religious views, it is unbecoming of the President of the United States to characterize same-sex couples as 'sinners…It's also sad that, at a moment in history that cries out for leadership and moral courage, President Bush has instead opted for the divisive, anti-gay politics of the past." Noting a July 18-20 Gallup Poll showing Bush nearly tied with a Democratic challenger in his reelection bid (46%-42%) and recalling the bigoted 1996 "Defense of Marriage Act", Foreman continued: "Bush and his advisors must be desperate…They have taken weeks to come up with the idea of proposing legislation that was passed into law in 1996. He's obviously desperate to keep the country's focus off the war in Iraq and the dismal state of the economy, and he's willing to do it on the backs of gay men and lesbians, even if it means proposing legislation that already exists as law." Winnie Stachelberg, Political Director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said: "We are very disappointed that the president is trying to further codify discrimination into law. The deeply discriminatory 1996 Defense of Marriage Act already denies gay and lesbian Americans basic rights like the ability to take time off work to care for a sick partner. We ask the President to explain to the American people why DOMA does not already meet the objective he set this morning." The so-called 1996 "Defense of Marriage Act", a constitutionally tenuous piece of legislation allowing states to opt out of recognizing any same-sex marriages performed in other states, makes same-sex couples ineligible for any of the 1,049 federal benefits conferred on married heterosexual couples. Courts in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Indiana are currently considering whether to overturn the prohibitions on same-sex marriage in those states. The president's remarks yesterday were in contrast with remarks by Vice President Dick Cheney's statements during a vice presidential debate prior to the 2000 election. "People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It's really no one else's business, in terms of trying to regulate or--or prohibit behavior in that regard," said Cheney. "I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area...I think we ought to do everything we can to--to tolerate and accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into." A recent study of the 2000 Census by the Urban Institute showed that gay and lesbian Americans live in 99.3 percent of the counties in this country. The study also showed the average American same-sex couple is, statistically speaking, a mirror image of the average married American couple. For example, the average same-sex couple with children in Ohio is raising 1.79 children, while the average heterosexual couple is raising 1.93 children. Also in Ohio, 75.1 percent of same-sex couples own their homes, and 82.2 percent of other couples own their homes, which have the same median value of $112,500. In January, 2002, the president signed a Washington, D.C. appropriations bill that grants domestic partners of city employees access to health benefits. In June 2002, the President also signed the Mychal Judge Act, which provides a federal payment to the beneficiaries of public safety officers killed in the line of duty, including same-sex or opposite-sex domestic partners. "On the one hand, we have seen the president act with compassion and tolerance by signing important bills like the Mychal Judge Act into law. At the same time, he also seems to be working to strengthen laws that deny more than 1,000 federal rights, benefits and protections to law- abiding, tax paying gay and lesbian Americans who are now being faced with new forms of codified discrimination. That is just wrong," said HRC's Winnie Stachelberg. |
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Bush said on Wednesday that he opposes gay marriages, and called gay people 'sinners'