Gay Republicans turn against Bush

By Bob Kemper
Chicago Tribune

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Two of the largest Republican gay-rights groups, Log Cabin Republicans and the Republican Unity Coalition, have broken with the president, accusing him of turning against gays to rally his conservative supporters.

The potentially vitriolic public debate over the amendment could turn off moderate voters in states where only a few thousand votes could spell the difference between victory and defeat for Bush.

Log Cabin Republicans, who have remained loyal to Bush since his election, are organizing in states that are a toss-up this year — including Wisconsin, New Mexico and Missouri — to oppose the marriage amendment.

The group, which has 50 U.S. chapters and is the largest Republican organization on gay issues, plans to begin running television, radio and newspaper ads in the next two weeks.

While they won't specifically target the president, the ads will suggest that by backing the amendment Bush is "someone who divides the public instead of uniting it," said Patrick Guerriero, the group's executive director.

"I guess the message is that if you really want a culture war, you're going to get it," Guerriero said.

Exit polls from the 2000 election indicated that about 1 million gay voters had voted for Bush, or one-fourth of the total gay turnout.

"Those million gay votes are gone. People are just beside themselves," said one Republican activist. "Those voters in 2000 are dealing with a whole new set of facts now. There is nothing for gays now."

The Republican Unity Coalition issued a statement calling the marriage amendment "a terrible betrayal of conservative principles of federalism and limited government" and said it would "neither support nor defend this action."

The Bush campaign defended the president's decision to support the constitutional amendment, noting that it would still allow state legislatures to legalize "civil unions" for gay couples and to decide what state-level rights and responsibilities to confer on those couples.
 
"The decision was based on principle, not politics," a Bush campaign aide said.

But gay-rights activists see Bush's backing of the marriage amendment as an attempt to shore up his support with the conservative voters who provide the base of his support and who long have called for such an amendment.

It also marks the end, they said, of Bush's ability to portray himself as a "compassionate conservative" and a "uniter, not a divider."

"Their crass calculus is that a culture war will win them votes," said John Aravosis, one of the leaders of DontAmend.com, an Internet-based movement in support of gay marriage. "He's falling in the polls, and this is a last desperate act."

Gary Bauer, who heads the group American Values, dismissed threats from gay activists and said backing the marriage amendment will boost Bush's chances for re-election.

Refusing to endorse the amendment when courts are chipping away at marriage as a heterosexual-only institution would have been "inexplicable and ultimately a political disaster," Bauer said.

"There are many more voters in the country who feel marriage should remain between a man and a woman who are likely to vote for him than there are gay activists who are going to vote against him," Bauer said.

Gay-rights activists bolting from the Republican ticket will not immediately line up behind the likely Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who also opposes gay marriage but does not support the constitutional amendment.

But they may sit out an election that Bush's strategist believe will be extraordinarily close, activists said.

"Our job is not to hurt the party or the president," Guerriero said. "But there has to be a price to pay when you push ... a wedge issue like this."

Cheney favors amendment to ban same-sex marriages
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday he supports President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, though one of his daughters is gay and he has said in the past the issue should be left to the states.

"The president's taken the clear position that he supports a constitutional amendment," Cheney said in an interview with MSNBC. "I support him."

Cheney said during the 2000 campaign, and again last month, that he prefers to see states handle the issue of gay marriage.

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