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Lawmakers see no green light on gay marriage ban By Judy Holland, Hearst Newspapers MySA.com January 25, 2004 WASHINGTON — Congress will give low priority to a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriages because of President Bush's cautious comments about such unions, key lawmakers say. The lawmakers say Bush used his State of the Union address last week to signal a go-slow approach to the emotional issue when he indicated that he would support a constitutional ban if courts continued to uphold gay marriages. "If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process," Bush said. "Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage." Bush was referring to the landmark Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in November that same-sex couples have a right to wed. The court gave the Massachusetts Legislature a spring deadline to enact laws enabling gays to marry. The president's comments left conservative advocacy groups fuming. But members of Congress said Bush's message was clear: Put a low priority on any push for a constitutional amendment. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., who opposes gay marriage, said the president essentially has shelved any anti-gay marriage amendment for now. Allen said congressional conservatives would spring into action to push the amendment if "unelected judges go off on tangents." "In the event that judges exceed their authority, then the recourse would be a constitutional amendment," Allen said. He predicted it would take "many, many years" to gain passage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Sen. Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also predicted slow going. "It's a complicated issue," Daschle said. "It will be some time before there is any consensus on that." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, a vocal supporter of the marriage amendment, said Bush was "sending a very real message to the judiciary that this is something that should be done and handled by the Legislature, by the Congress and by the executive branch, and that they shouldn't be making these rulings by fiat or legislating from the bench. That's what he's really saying." The president's comments reflect the administration's delicate balancing act on the emotional issue. On the one hand, the White House doesn't want to alienate its evangelical base. On the other, it is reluctant to communicate any message of intolerance, which could turn off moderates. Conservatives have intensified the push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage since last June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Texas law against sodomy. Added impetus came when with the Massachusetts court ruling. The Rev. Don Wildmon of Tupelo, Miss., who chairs the Arlington Group of 20 conservative organizations, warned that Bush's evangelical supporters might stay home on election day if Bush failed to push the marriage amendment. "Conservative Christians feel strongly about this particular issue," he said. "The White House is afraid of being perceived as bad guys" by pushing a ban on gay marriage. The pending constitutional amendment sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., and Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., reads in its totality: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state, nor state nor federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups." Musgrave said she was determined to keep pushing the amendment "to stop states from exporting homosexual marriage." A constitutional amendment is a tough hurdle to clear, requiring a two-thirds approval by both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states. Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian advocacy group, said Bush is "attempting to have it both ways" with his ambivalency on the gay marriage ban.
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