WASHINGTON – President Bush and congressional Republicans are aiming the political spotlight this week on efforts to ban gay marriage, with events at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue – all for a constitutional amendment with scant chance of passage but wide appeal among social conservatives.
“Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.”
The president was to make further remarks Monday in favor of the amendment as the Senate opened three days of debate. Neither chamber, though, is likely to pass the amendment by the two-thirds majority required to send it to the states – three quarters of which would then have to approve it.
Many Republicans support the measure because they say traditional marriage strengthens society; others don’t but concede the reality of election-year politics.
“Marriage between one man and one woman does a better job protecting children better than any other institution humankind has devised,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. “As such, marriage as an institution should be protected, not redefined.”…
…Democrats say the amendment is a divisive bow to religious conservatives, and point out that it conflicts with the GOP’s opposition to big government interference.
“A vote for this amendment is a vote for bigotry pure and simple,” said Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, where the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriages in 2003.
Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, which in 2004 began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, on Monday denounced Bush’s move as predictable and “stale rhetoric” aimed at rallying conservatives for this year’s midterm elections.
“It’s politics. It’s pandering and it’s placating a core constituency, the evangelicals,” Newsom said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Laurie Kellman, AP Writer
Analysis:
It is not surprising that the effort to pass a constitutional amendment protecting the institution of marriage would fail to get the needed two thirds majority vote in congress. We live in a secular society which is rapidly losing the moral foundations upon which it was founded. What was a generation ago unthinkable is rapidly gaining acceptance.
As evidence of this trend, notice how the AP is reporting the story. The amendment is not being described as President Bush prefers, as a “protection of marriage”. It is instead being described as an attempt to “ban gay marriage.” It is simple semantics, but in forming public opinion sometimes semantics make all the difference.
For example, consider the abortion debate. While those who oppose abortion call themselves “Pro-life”, most often the media portrays them as “Anti-abortion.” In contrast, “Pro-abortion” advocates prefer “Pro-choice”, and most often are granted that preference. In our society, sinful forces have the upper hand, and the Christian perspective is almost always the minority view. In the midst of such ungodliness, it is of tantamount importance for the child of God to be steadfast in standing for truth and righteousness.
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. … who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28,32).
