It's George W who's destroying families

Jessica Marshall & Sam Webb

President Bush has announced his plan to save us all from the new 
evil of the world: same-sex couples seeking the right to get 
married. Apparently, a proposed amendment to the federal 
constitution limiting marriage to heterosexuals will protect us 
all.

Protect us from what, exactly? Until now we haven't heard one 
concrete example of how the institution of heterosexual marriage 
and the integrity of our society are threatened when two people 
of the same sex marry and build a family together based in love, 
mutual respect, and a lifetime commitment to one another.

The argument that rupturing traditional concepts of marriage 
would somehow destroy American society is not true now and it 
wasn't true in past decades when state laws and cultural norms 
forbade inter-racial and inter-religious couples from marrying.

The truth is, when we hear Bush talking about the "sanctity" of 
traditional marriage what he really is talking about is sending 
women back to the home and returning same-sex couples to the 
shadows of our society.

Bush claims that non-traditional family structures, including 
single-parent households, are the root of all societal problems 
and thus somehow less honourable. Tell that to the millions of 
single parents in this country who are struggling to provide 
stability and love for their families.

If Bush is really concerned about the stability of family life, 
we would be better served if he restored welfare rights and 
funding for day care and other social services that have been 
slashed through his economic policies including drastic tax 
giveaways for the rich. Perhaps he might do something to restore 
the three million jobs that have disappeared on his watch.

The truth is that our nation is facing many urgent problems, yet 
they have absolutely nothing to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual or 
transgendered people demanding the right to marry. Since the '80s 
and '90s, pro-corporate policies of successive administrations 
have thrust millions of American families into poverty and 
economic desperation. Is that not more devastating to the 
stability and health of the American family?

The timing of Bush's announcement about pushing through a 
constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage is not 
coincidental. This is nothing more than a mean-spirited, 
calculated attempt to break up the growing anti-Bush sentiment 
heading into the coming elections.

Not since it was written into the original Constitution that 
African Americans were to be counted as three-fifths of a human 
being has language been added to abridge the rights of an entire 
group of people.

In fact, people have fought and died to extend our constitutional 
rights and expand human freedom. If Bush really wants to defend 
the morality and stability of our families, why isn't he 
proposing an amendment that would guarantee education, health 
care and a job to every person living in the United States? 
Instead he has begun a campaign to demonise same-sex couples 
whose only demand is to be treated equally under the law.

According to Bush, a tiny number of "activist" judges are somehow 
using their powers to change the entire face of American society. 
He didn't oppose certain "activist" judges who changed the 
outcome of the 2000 elections. In fact, Bush has worked during 
the last three years to appoint activist judges who would take 
away rights won after decades of struggle, including women's 
reproductive rights, affirmative action and the rights of workers 
to organise.

We applaud those "activist" judges who have opened the doors for 
thousands of same-sex couples in recent weeks to file for 
marriage licenses in the face of local and state laws that would 
prohibit them from doing so.

We applaud those couples, who take inspiration from the heroic 
demonstrations of young people in the South in the 1950s and '60s 
against Jim Crow segregation laws.

President Bush ended his speech last week with these words: "Let 
us match strong convictions with kindness and good will and 
decency". What hypocrisy, when his actions create an environment 
that makes anti-gay violence and hatred acceptable.

Bush's opposition to legislation that would classify violence 
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people as hate 
crimes shows his disregard of even the most fundamental rights of 
people to live free of discrimination and violence regardless of 
their sexual orientation.

The truth is that this is not just about whether or not same-sex 
couples are afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples to 
marry. This is about guaranteeing the right of all of our people 
to dignity, respect and equality under the law, and protection of 
what is enshrined in our nation's Constitution — the guarantee 
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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People's Weekly World