July 2, 2003 5:33 AM

Is this really the type of country we want?

White House Mum on Amendment Banning Gay Marriage

OK, how's about just go ahead and legislate discrimination against whatever group the majority happens to hate at a given moment? Does this make any rational sense at all?

The White House stopped short on Tuesday of endorsing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, but said President Bush believed marriage was a union between a man and a woman.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and a close Bush ally in Congress, said on Sunday he "absolutely" supports a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman. He spoke after the Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush had not discussed the issue with Frist but that the president backed the Defense of Marriage Act.

"The president believes that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman," Fleischer told reporters. "We have a law on the books right now that ... passed with massive, overwhelming bipartisan majorities in 1996. The president supports that legislation and that's where he stands right now."

Look, I can understand it if you happen to dislike the concept of homosexuality. There's no rule saying that you have to become one, but why is it so difficult to simply live and let live? No, you may not agree with the lifestyle, but does that give you the right to discriminate against someone whose lifestyle is not one you would choose for yourself?

I've always thought that one of the most admirable qualities of this country is it's ability to assimilate so many different people from so many different races, creeds, and philosophies. Unfortunately, there are those who think that being different is evil and immoral, and that those who are different deserve to be marginalized, discriminated against, and treated as second-class citizens by our legal system. Why should we devote so much energy to turning an entire group of people into second-class citizens when there are so many other issues of much greater importance facing our country?

Perhaps that is the point. Perhaps it's simply easier for Republicans to galvanize support for a hot-button issue such as gay marriage than it is to actually display some leadership. That would require ideas, plans, and some serious heavy lifting- something Republicans have shown a pronounced distaste for.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 2, 2003 5:33 AM.

Winning isn't everything...or is it? was the previous entry in this blog.

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