BUSH is loosing anti gay marriage move

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Bush Heads Toward Defeat on Gay Marriage Measure
By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters

Tuesday 13 July 2004

Washington - President Bush's election-year bid to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage headed toward a lopsided defeat on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

While two thirds of the 100-member Senate would be needed to pass the measure, Republican backers scrambled to get even a simple majority.

They conceded they did not have the 60 votes needed to survive a procedural vote scheduled for Wednesday, meaning the measure will likely be dead for the year.

Republicans, accused by Democrats of seeking the proposed amendment to rally their socially conservative base, vowed to try again.

"This issue is not going away," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.

"I'm hoping we get some 45 (votes)," said Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, another member of the Republican leadership. "If we get close to 50 that would be great."

Steve Fisher of Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian civil rights group, said, "If we hold them to under 50 votes it would send an extraordinary message that playing politics with discrimination will fail."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, charged the Republican leadership with bringing up the proposal for "pure politics."

"They're hoping to use the issue to drive a wedge between one group of citizens and the rest of the country, solely for partisan advantage," he said.

Republicans say gay marriage devalues traditional marriage, which they say is a pillar of civilization, and should be outlawed for the sake of children.

Polls show most Americans oppose same-sex marriage but are split on whether a constitutional ban is needed. Surveys also find voters believe other issues are more important - such as health care, education and national security.

Republicans forced consideration of the proposed amendment two weeks before John Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, will receive his party's presidential nomination at the Democratic national convention in Boston.

Massachusetts in May became the first U.S. state to allow same-sex marriage.

Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, oppose same sex-marriage but argue amending the Constitution is not the answer. They say it should be left up to the states to define marriage.

Despite claims to the contrary by proponents, some critics also argue that the measure could undermine existing state and local domestic partnership laws, which provide couples some financial and legal protections.

Kerry Opposes Amendment
At a fund-raiser in Boston on Monday, Kerry alluded to the gay marriage debate as a symbol of what he characterized as a divisive Republican president.

"Values aren't talking about peoples' rights and opening the door of opportunity, and then you turn around and for political purposes in the middle of a campaign, you bring an amendment to the Constitution of the United States just to divide America," Kerry said.

For a proposed constitutional amendment to become law, it must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, then ratified by 38 of the 50 states.

The House is to consider a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage in September, but it is also expected to fall far short of the needed votes.

Bush in February called on the U.S. Congress to approve such an amendment after Massachusetts' highest court ruled gay couples had a right to wed and San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

These actions helped spawn lawsuits across the nation, including ones calling on other states to recognize same-sex marriage.

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