2004-2-27
This is Steve Ember with In the News, in VOA Special English.
President Bush this week urged Congress to pass an amendment to
the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. He said
this is needed to stop what he called activist judges and local
officials who want to redefine marriage.
The president says all cultures
and religions honor the union of a man and woman. He says changing
this would weaken the influence of society.
Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both
houses of Congress. Then it requires approval by at least
thirty-eight of the fifty states. All this can take years, if it
succeeds at all.
Democratic opponents of an amendment say Mister Bush is trying to
use the issue to help him win re-election. Not all Republicans
support the idea of an amendment. Some say the issue should be
decided by the states. But many conservatives had been urging Mister
Bush to speak out on recent events.
In November, the top court in Massachusetts ruled that a state
ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The court ordered
lawmakers to change the law so gays can marry. This has not happened
yet. But the mayor of San Francisco recently began to permit
homosexuals to marry at City Hall. California law bans same-sex
marriage. The California attorney general is trying to defend that
law by having the state Supreme Court rule on the actions in San
Francisco.
More than three-thousand same-sex
weddings have been performed in San Francisco during the past two
weeks. On Friday the mayor of a small college town in New York state
also began to let same-sex couples marry.
In Massachusetts, opponents tried to have gay marriages barred
through an amendment to the state constitution. That effort failed,
but it might be reconsidered in March. At least thirty-eight states
have passed laws or amendments to bar recognition of gay marriages.
President Bush says a constitutional amendment is needed to
defend the nineteen-ninety-six Defense of Marriage Act. That federal
law declares that marriage in the United States is the legal union
between a man and a woman. It also gives the states the right not to
honor same-sex marriage permits from other states. President Bill
Clinton signed it into law.
Public opinion research shows that most Americans oppose gay
marriage. But the public appears more divided on the issue of what
are called civil unions. Civil unions offer rights that are similar
to those for husbands and wives. Vermont recognizes civil unions. A
few other states also have laws that extend some rights to same-sex
partners.
President Bush says he supports protections like civil unions for
same-sex couples, but not marriage itself.
In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk.
This is Steve Ember.