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Gays - Bush pushes for ban
07/11/2004 22:01 - (SA)
Washington - President George W Bush will push to amend the US Constitution to ban gay marriage in all 50 US states, top White House political strategist Karl Rove told US television on Sunday.
Rove told "Fox News Sunday" that the president, who in his first term voiced support for the constitutional amendment, would "absolutely" continue that fight in his second term.
"Without the protection of that amendment, we are at the mercy of activist federal judges or activist state judges who could, without the involvement of the people, determine... that marriage no longer consists of a union between a man and a woman," Rove told Fox News.
"Marriage is a very important part of our culture and our society. If we want to have a hopeful and decent society, we ought to aim for the ideal.
"And the ideal is that marriage ought to be and should be a union of a man and a woman," said Rove.
Rove said the president does support civil unions, which give some legal rights to gay couples but stop short of conferring marital status.
"He believes that there are ways that states can deal with some of the issues that have been raised, for example, visitation rights in hospitals or the right to inherit or benefit rights, property rights.
"But these can all be dealt with at the state level without overturning the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman," Rove said.
"We cannot allow activist local elected officials to thumb their nose at 5,000 years of human history."
The politically and socially divisive issue of gay marriage drove a wedge between civil rights lobbyists and conservative Christians earlier this year, climaxing in a failed bid, backed by Bush, to pass a federal constitutional amendment banning the practice.
Voters in 11 US states voted overwhelmingly during elections last week to impose constitutional bans on gay marriage, showing strong support for the measure, which generally passed by margins of three to one.
The move to change state constitutions reflected a growing public debate on same-sex marriage after Massachusetts earlier this year became the first US state to sanction such unions.
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