Bush vague on gay marriage amendment

THE White House yesterday refused to commit President George W Bush to supporting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, although conservative groups say they have received assurances that he will take that step.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration was closely watching events in Massachusetts, where state lawmakers are on the verge of voting on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

“The president has said that he is committed to doing what is legally needed to protect the sanctity of marriage,” Mr McClellan said. “And he has said, if necessary, he would support a constitutional amendment. That is what he has previously said. But at this point, we continue to look very closely at this issue.” Mr McClellan said the administration was still studying last week’s Massachusetts Supreme Court advisory opinion that gays are entitled to nothing less than marriage and that civil unions will not suffice. The opinion set the stage for the nation’s first legally sanctioned same-sex weddings by the spring.

Mr Bush has denounced the Massachusetts ruling as “deeply troubling”. In his State of the Union address last month, Mr Bush had delighted conservatives by saying that if judges “insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process”.

Conservative leaders said they had received a White House pledge last week that Mr Bush will support a constitutional amendment.

“We were given direct assurances from the very top,” Kelly Shackelford, president of the Texas-based Free Market Foundation, said last week. On the Democratic side, Massachusetts Sen John Kerry, the front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination, said: “I believe and have fought for the principle that we should protect the fundamental rights of gay and lesbian couples - from inheritance to health benefits. I believe the right answer is civil unions. I oppose gay marriage and disagree with the Massachusetts Court’s decision.”

Meanwhile, Massachusetts lawmakers convened last night for an extraordinary constitutional convention to consider the ban on same-sex marriage.

The move to debate such an amendment to the constitution comes one week after the state’s highest court ruled that same-sex couples were entitled to marriage. With that ruling, Massachusetts stands to become the first state in the country to allow gays and lesbians to marry.