USA
 

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, George W. Bush put the dignity and equality of gays and lesbians in the center of the political agenda in the presidential election race, and he came down squarely on the side of those who would ban civil marriage for gays and lesbians.

In the 2000 campaign, Bush sold himself as "a uniter, not a divider." This time around he is the hypocrite. In his typically vacuous way, he is dividing the American people, appealing to the worst instincts of prejudice and privilege, as he endorses perverting the Constitution to deny basic civil rights to his fellow citizens.

The immediate danger of Bush as this election year moves forward is that the debate on so-called "gay marriage" will allow the denigration and slander of gays and lesbians to continue in the national debate.

The public discussion of civil marriage allows the bigots to attack gay Americans. The debate puts gay and lesbian Americans on the defensive to justify our very existence. The argument that Bush has entered will be emotionally and physically dangerous and damaging to gays, lesbians and their families.  And George Bush has weighed-in firmly on the side of the mean-spirited, the dogmatists and the demagogues.   

The issue of civil marriage comes down to a disarmingly simple question of integrity; integrity of the historic promise of this Nation as one that seeks equality and freedom for all its citizens.

A US President in 2004 should be ashamed that at this time in our history a significant segment of the population is still subject to routine, hurtful and damaging discrimination.  George Bush, far from being embarrassed by this defect in the democracy, tightens his grip on the special right to discriminate.

Using the rhetoric of Fundamentalism, Bush echoes those who would impose specific and radical religious doctrine rather than resolute principles that should govern a great democratic nation like the United States.

Any person's right to hold a particular faith-based belief is a cherished freedom, appropriate for guidance in a house of worship but not fitting in the White House or the Houses of Congress.
  
"A house divided against itself cannot stand," so said Abraham Lincoln in 1858 as a Republican US Senate candidate. Lincoln recognized that division in this country is crippling. Bush as a Republican candidate in 2004 has ignored the legacy of history, actively promoting division and danger for his fellow citizens.

The Bush commitment to radical religionism leads to terrible public policy. He should be held accountable for this breach in November.

Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of Triangle Foundation,
Michigan's statewide gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil
rights advocacy organization.

Triangle Foundation website

23 January 2004