Bush's Comments Regarding Homosexual Marriage Rankle Pro-Family Leaders

by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
December 18, 2003

(AgapePress) - Several pro-family groups are reacting negatively to a recent comment by President Bush that implies he may be somewhat soft on his backing of a Constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage.

In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that aired Tuesday night, the president said while he would support a Federal Marriage Amendment "which would honor marriage between a man and a woman," he also said his administration would support "whatever legal arrangements people want to make -- so long as it's embraced by the state or at the state level."

The president's caveat pricked the ears of those who oppose homosexual "civil unions" or "marriages" -- and those who are convinced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution may be the only way to derail radical homosexual activists seeking to destroy the traditional one man-one woman concept of marriage.

Dr. Don Wildmon

One of the pro-family groups leading the charge for a Federal Marriage Amendment has been the Mississippi-based American Family Association. AFA sponsors two activist websites focused specifically on the issue -- NoGayMarriage.com and ChurchCoalition.com -- and is currently conducting an online poll on the issue of homosexual marriage. The group's founder and chairman, Dr. Don Wildmon, says the president's recent comments are sending a mixed message.

"It is indeed very discouraging to have the president make these comments. It's certainly not the right way to go," Wildmon says. "I think it's going to split some of the political base that the president has if, indeed, he means to be interpreted that way. That remains to be seen."

Wildmon says it appears the president is trying to appeal to everyone. He maintains the president's remarks will not gain him a single vote from radical homosexual activists who support same-sex unions. "It's bewildering why he's doing this. I think he has some people around him who think that the secular, liberal media will come after him, and [that] it's best to side with the liberal media than it is with grassroots voters."

Concerned Woman for America says Bush's comments "drove a wedge" into the pro-family effort to preserve the institution of marriage. CWA president Sandy Rios while the president is right on marriage, he is "tragically wrong" on civil unions.

"Whether it's done by a state, a court, or the federal government, creating counterfeit marriage is immoral and destructive," she says. "It is not compassionate to create incentives for people to engage in homosexual behavior which leads to rampant disease and early death, especially among homosexual men."

Echoing Rios' comments are Bob Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute. And like Wildmon, he sees politics playing a role in how the White House is addressing the issue of same-sex marriage.

"President Bush is rejecting Judeo-Christian moral teaching in order to please homosexual activists and some misguided advisors who think this will be politically advantageous," Knight says. "But this is not only immoral, it is bad politics. It will serve only to unite his enemies and demoralize his base."

Good and Bad News
During the ABC interview, President Bush did say he believed the Judicial Supreme Court of Massachusetts overstepped its authority when it recently moved to legalize homosexual marriage. He also said he believed in the sanctity of marriage, but did not see that belief in conflict with being a tolerant or understanding person.

Gary Bauer

Conservative activist Gary Bauer picked up on those comments, saying it is to the president's credit that he made statements supportive of traditional marriage and of a constitutional marriage protection amendment. "The bad news is that he does indeed [through his comments on Tuesday night] seem to 'open the door' to the prospect of legislatively enacted civil unions -- homosexual 'faux' marriage by another name," he says.

Bauer, president of the group American Values, saye Bush's "unfortunate statement" undermines pro-family conservatives around the country who are working in state legislatures to prevent such "fake marriages" from being forced on the American people.

On the bright side, however, Bauer notes that "those believing that this President will sit idly by while marriage is destroyed by a handful of activist judges will be mistaken."