Equal Marriage For Same-Sex Couples | Bush distances himself from religious right

Advocacy News - Bush distances himself from religious right

October 28, 2004

Bush distances himself from religious right
Reversal may further the cause of gay marriage

By Ian Taylor, NSNC News Services

"Voters in 11 states will decide Tuesday whether to write into their state constitutions a definition of marriage that limits the institution to unions of one man and one woman. And thus may the presidential election be decided."
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, October 28, 2020

Speaking on Tuesday, October 26, on Good Morning America, one week before the US election, President George W. Bush said he fully supports the equal rights of same-sex couples and he supports same-sex unions, as long as they're not called marriages.

First lady Laura Bush sat and nodded pleasantly through the segment, holding Mr. Bush's hand as he smiled dimly and made the shocking announcement. CNN and Canadian TV networks carried the story all day.

When the interviewer asked the President about this direct contradiction to Republican Party policy documents, the President smiled again, licked his lips and said he'd always supported full equal rights for same sex couples.

It's believed the President was sober when he made the bombshell announcement.

"I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do so ... States ought to be able to have the right to pass laws that enable people to be able to have rights like others."
George Bush, ABC TV, Good Morning America, Oct. 26, 2004

George W. Bush has moved the USA to within a couple of years of Canada on same sex marriage. In handing the issue to the States, Bush has brought full marriage closer than it's ever been. Of course the statement could merely be a foxhole conversion by a lame-duck president who will do anything for votes. Canadian's will recall Prime Minister Martin embracing gay marriage days prior to an election in this country.

Just one week after a vicious attack by Rev. Pat Robertson, who accused Bush of lying about the Iraq war casualties, Bush is clearly now getting his revenge on the radical religious right, who many see as damaging Bush's reelection victory due to their foul-mouthed language.

Bush seems not to have had the stomach to call homosexuals perverts, as Rev. Jerry Falwell did this week on CNN talking about the Cheney family. In the last Canadian election, intolerant statements by right-wingers helped defeat the Conservative party and Bush must have wanted to curtail the foul messages.

The Bush Republicans are caught in the Cheney family values saga, with all the damaging, hurtful messages like "perverted lifestyle" originating within the party's extreme right. Democratic anti-marriage candidate John Kerry seems intent on reminding Americans that some Republicans love their lesbian children and support their rights and Bush has weighed in for the Cheneys.

Bush's reversal on same-sex rights is sure to anger the radical religious right. It's also likely to throw a wrench into the Canadian Conservative Party's policy talks next year, since the former Reformers wanted to ignore all gay rights legislation and couldn't support same-sex unions.

Since Bush isn't likely to lose a single vote from the right at this stage, he can now distance himself from the old-line religious bigots and proceed with his agenda of faith-based initiatives free of old baggage like Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robinson.

John Kerry stands up to the Catholic Bishops on abortion and stem cell research, but he's in bed with the Bishops against same-sex marriage. Bush, meanwhile, has fallen into the trap of offering special rights when gays and lesbians are seeking equal rights. It is still not acceptable.

Like Canada, the U.S. courts will eventually rule against special rights, providing full equality in marriage, and perhaps years earlier then anyone expected in the USA.