The Hindu : Bush backs amendment banning gay marriages

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

International

International

Bush backs amendment banning gay marriages

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB.24. In a move that has political ramifications in an election year, the U.S. President, George W. Bush, said that he would back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages; and called on the so-called activist judges to stop from changing the definition of the "most enduring human institution."

Mr. Bush called on Congress to approve such an amendment and send it to the States for ratification.

He had not specifically committed himself to any particular language but any amendment must protect the sanctity of marriage as between man and woman, the White House said.

"After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilisation. Their action has created confusion on an issue that requires clarity," he said.

Any constitutional amendment needs two-thirds support in both the House of Representatives and the Senate; and must be ratified in three-fourths of state legislatures.

Conservatives in the Grand Old Party and Christian leaders were concerned at the recent developments in the country but said that Mr. Bush had assured them at a recent closed-door meeting of his support for a constitutional amendment.

The Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts ruled that it was unconstitutional to ban gay couples from marriage.

And hundreds of gay and lesbian couples travelled to San Francisco where city officials there decided to marry same sex couples.

It is estimated that some 3,200 such couples will take vows by Friday promising to be "spouses for life."

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