Washington, D.C. – President Bush last night drove a wedge into the pro-family effort to preserve the institution of marriage by signaling that his administration supports the creation of homosexual civil unions or domestic partnerships at the state level.
In answer to a question by ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, Bush said:
“If necessary, I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that, and will – the position of this administration is that whatever legal arrangements people want to make, they’re allowed to make, so long as it’s embraced by the state or … start at the state level.”
Sandy Rios, president of CWA, had this response:
“The president is right on marriage, but 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. 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.”
Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute responded, “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. But this is not only immoral, it is bad politics. It will serve only to unite his enemies and demoralize his base.”
Jan LaRue, CWA’s chief counsel, said: “Marriage is protected by law as the unique relationship and foundation of civilization. The President has courageously led the war on terrorism. We were counting on him to exhibit the same leadership in the war on marriage. His stated position on civil unions is greatly disappointing, and we hope he reconsiders what’s at stake.”
Tune in tomorrow to Concerned Women Today to hear Sandy Rios and Robert Knight discuss the President’s comments. The show reaches over 1 million listeners per week and can be heard in the Washington, D.C., area on WAVA 105.1 FM at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
