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Bush ignites new fight to try to ban gay marriage
Saying the issue requires "a national solution," the president prodded the Senate as a vote nears on the amendment.
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WASHINGTON - Calling marriage between a man and woman "the most enduring and important human institution," President Bush on Monday asked the Senate to pass a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages.
"This national question requires a national solution," Bush said.
Bush made the announcement minutes before the Senate began debating the so-called marriage protection amendment. It needs 67 votes to pass and is expected to be defeated later this week.
Like much of Congress and the nation, Minnesota's senators are divided over the issue.
"I'll vote against it, speak against it, do everything I can to convince people that this is one of the fundamental tests of a democracy: the ability of people to accept individual differences," said Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton.
He said the amendment is not necessary because Congress in 1996 passed a law banning gay marriage.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who favors the amendment, said proponents fear the law might be thrown out by the courts and that the only way to protect marriage is to change the Constitution.
By voting for the amendment, Coleman said, he wants to make sure that "you can't substitute courts' judgments for the judgment of the legislatures."
All Senate Democrats, except Ben Nelson of Nebraska, oppose the amendment, and Democrats on Monday immediately accused Republicans of trying to pander to social conservatives in the November elections.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of trying "to frighten, to distort, to distract, and to confuse" Americans. "It is this administration's way of avoiding the tough, real problems that American citizens are confronted with each and every day: high gas prices, the war in Iraq, the national debt, health care, senior citizens, education, crime, trade policy, stem-cell research," he said.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who sponsored the measure, responded that the amendment had nothing to do with politics: "It's about marriage and democracy."
What's next
The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become law, it would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.
Bush said that 45 of the 50 states have either a state constitutional amendment or statute defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman and that there's "a broad consensus for protecting the institution of marriage." Since 2004, he said, state courts in Washington, California, Maryland and New York have ruled against marriage laws, and last year, a federal judge in Nebraska overturned a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Minnesotans watching closely
The Senate debate is being followed closely by Minnesotans, including 28-year-old Andy Birkey, a gay man from Minneapolis who said he hopes to get married someday.
"No one is out to undermine marriage. We just want to be included," he said.
Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, said, "The issue is 'what is marriage?' And it is one man and one woman. Anything beyond that would be to redefine it."
Washington Bureau correspondents Brady Averill and Greg Gordon contributed to this report.
Rob Hotakainen is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau
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