Federal Marriage Amendment Reintroduced in Congress: Bush's Radical Right Supporters Use Leverage to Advance Agenda of Intolerance

January 25, 2005

By Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, Senior Field Organizer

They are at it again! On Jan. 24, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., reintroduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution designed to ban same-sex marriages. The Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) seeks to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. The strategic timing of this reintroduction makes it one of the first items of business in George W. Bush's second term.

NOW opposes this and any attempt to re-write the Constitution in order to deny rights to Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) people.

Last year Congress voted down the similar Federal Marriage Amendment, and in a Jan. 16, 2005 interview with The Washington Post, Bush seemed to indicate that he would not push for a new amendment this session.

Bush's words caused panic among many conservatives and lead to a stern letter from a coalition known as the "Arlington Group." The Arlington Group is an alliance of prominent religious right-wingers, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority Coalition, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association.

In their Jan. 18 letter to Bush advisor Karl Rove, the Arlington Group stated: "We couldn't help but notice the contrast between how the president is approaching the difficult issue of Social Security privatization where the public is deeply divided and the marriage issue where public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side."

The letter continued: "Is [Bush] prepared to spend significant political capital on privatization but reluctant to devote the same energy to preserving traditional marriage? If so it would create outrage with countless voters who stood with him just a few weeks ago, including an unprecedented number of African-Americans, Latinos and Catholics who broke with tradition and supported the president solely because of this issue."

Just in case their threat was not clear, Falwell and company spelled it out: "When the administration adopts a defeatist attitude on an issue that is at the top of our agenda, it becomes impossible for us to unite our movement on an issue such as Social Security privatization where there are already deep misgivings."

NOW leaders are outraged, but not terribly surprised, that Bush's radical right supporters would resort to blackmail to advance their agenda of intolerance. George W. Bush, of course, caved into the right wing, having his spin-masters "clarify" his position by stating support of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

"We will work on every front to stop this administration from reversing our rights, from reproductive rights to social security to much needed government funded programs, and we will prevent them from writing discrimination into our Constitution" said NOW President Kim Gandy. "LGBT people are members of our families and communities and they deserve to be treated fairly and with respect. The Marriage Protection Amendment is a slap in the face to all of us who are working towards fairness and justice."