Will Gay Marriage Blur Other Issues?

President Bush surely has a lot to worry about without letting the issue of gay marriage dominate the presidential election campaign.

His agenda should be crammed with such matters as the unfinished business of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan; job flight from the United States to low-wage countries; and the backlash over the cost of the new Medicare reform law.

These are the concerns of voters, too, and should be debated by the candidates in the run-up to the November election.

The president has created a bit of a smoke screen that blurs these issues by announcing his decision to support a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriages. His rhetoric is a bow to the religious right in the Republican Party but it has become a distraction from the real everyday problems we face. The more we chatter about gay marriage, the less we focus on job loss.

Conservative Republicans have been cool toward the president in recent months because of the rising budget deficit. How better to get their attention and campaign contributions than by making gay marriage a campaign issue.

"The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution," Bush said in a formal statement. That bond would be undermined if members of the same sex took wedding vows, he continued, without explaining how that would happen.

Bush said an amendment to the Constitution would define and protect the sanctity of marriage "as a union of man and woman as husband and wife."

The president took the opportunity to blast "activist judges. . . who have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage and change the fundamental institution of civilization."

Bush conveniently overlooked the fact that he had owed his 2000 election to "activist judges" -- the five U.S. Supreme Court justices who decided the Florida election dispute in his favor.

Even Vice President Cheney has now lined up behind the president. Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, had said previously that the question of gay marriage should be left to the states. But on Tuesday the vice president announced his support for the constitutional amendment that Bush wants.

Cheney told MSNBC "the president's taken the clear position that he supports a constitutional amendment. I support him."

This is pure politicking by a well-practiced pro. It would be an interesting study in "issue management" and "presidential politics 101." The shame of it is that real people suffer pain in their most tender emotions, that of love, so that a couple of candidates can blabber irresponsibly about the threat of same-sex marriage.

Let's grow up. Life is not that orderly. Homosexuality is a reality, always has been, and yet civilization survives.

Who are we to judge the preferences and sexual orientation of others? Gays who have been together for years are often denied the benefits of marriage partnerships, even visitation rights to a hospital when a companion is ill. What a sorry picture.

Public opinion polls show that most people are against gay marriages but more tolerant of civil unions, which confer some of the legal benefits of marriage. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the likely Democratic president nominee, says he opposes gay marriages but supports civil unions.

The current uproar about gay marriage erupted on Feb. 4 when the highest court in Massachusetts ruled that the government "had failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason to deny" gay couples the right to marry.

Elizabeth Birch, director of "Human Rights Campaign," a gay advocacy group, makes the point that "the courts are not obliged to support the majority of the people."

If that were the case, interracial marriages would be banned in some states.

Undoubtedly the issue will some day come before the U.S. Supreme Court, which happily has a reputation for expanding civil rights, not restricting them. The beauty of the U.S. Constitution, among other things, is that it protects minorities against the prejudices of the majority.

Copyright Hearst Newspapers 2004 all rights reserved.