Bush Makes a Push for Traditional Marriage
Susan Jones
Senior Editor

(CNSNews.com) - This is marriage week on Capitol Hill. President Bush is revisiting the issue for the first time in his second term; and the U.S. Senate is expected to vote this week on a federal constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

In his weekly Saturday radio address, President Bush urged support for the Marriage Protection Amendment, the first time he's mentioned the subject since he was re-elected in 2004. He planned to follow up on Monday with a speech at the White House in support of the amendment.

"An amendment to the Constitution is necessary because activist courts have left our nation with no other choice," Bush said on Saturday.

But homosexual advocacy groups accuse Bush of pandering to the religious right.

"The president's attacks on the judicial system and 'activist judges' are not only insulting to the foundation of our republic but profoundly ironic given that they come from a man who would not be president at all but for 'activist judges,'" said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Foreman also rejected President Bush's statement that "every American deserves to be treated with tolerance, respect and dignity," and his call for the marriage debate to be conducted with "civility and decency toward one another."

It's the "height of hypocrisy," Foreman charged: "He knows the forces of religious extremism...have made an industry out of denigrating, demonizing and defaming gay people," Foreman said.

The Senate is expected to begin debating the amendment on Monday and a vote is expected by Wednesday.

On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that neither side believes the amendment will garner the required 67 votes for passage, regardless of Bush's endorsement.

Conservative advocacy groups say they will be watching the vote closely. The Christian Coalition of America said this will be a key vote in the "scorecard" it keeps on lawmakers.

"Considering the fact that an average of 71 percent of voters in 19 states have voted for state constitutional amendments banning homosexual "marriages", one would think that at least 70 Senators (3 more than required to pass a federal constitutional amendment) would vote for the Marriage Protection Amendment when it reaches the Senate floor," the CCA said in a press release.

But, CCA added, the last time the Senate prepared to vote on the amendment, "many senators brazenly voted against the wishes of the overwhelming number of voters in their states" and voted to continue a filibuster.

Some conservative groups warn that "same-sex 'marriage' means polygamy." The Family Research Council points to the June 6 edition of "The Advocate," which bills itself as "the national gay and lesbian magazine."

The cover story is "Polygamy Gay Men," and it should be taken as the challenge that it is, the FRC said: "This is what those senators who vote against the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) next week will be voting for" the group said.

"Will marriage survive or will America move in the direction of 'Big Gay Love?'" the FRC is asking.

The Marriage Protection Amendment to the Constitution states: "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, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman."