WASHINGTON — President Bush gave tentative support on Tuesday to a constitutional amendment that would preserve marriage between a man and a woman, in an interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News.
"I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that," Bush said.
But Bush said that he would only support a constitutional amendment "if necessary" to preserve traditional marriage. Previously, Bush has said that he viewed marriage as a bond between a man and a woman but he has stopped short of endorsing a constitutional amendment.
Bush has also said that he believed the issue of gay marriage was a state, rather than a federal, question. But in light of the recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in favor of gay marriages, Bush said he would leave the matter up to the states "except and unless judicial rulings undermine the sanctity of marriage; in which case we may need a constitutional amendment."
Gay marriage has become an issue as Bush heads into his 2004 re-election campaign. The White House has been reluctant to become involved in the debate, which is of enormous importance to the religious conservatives who make up the political base. The conservatives are strongly opposed to gay marriage, and Bush is eager to please them. But his advisers say that he wants to ensure that he does not alienate the more moderate voters who might be offended by what they see as an anti-gay position.
Gay groups reacted with anger to Bush's remarks. "If he endorses amendments such as this, which blatantly discriminates against a class of people, you would then have to wonder who and what is next," said Roberta Sklar, the spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
On another subject, the president indicated that he intends to pursue a Rose Garden strategy for much of the 2004 election campaign and would not comment on potential opponents until the Democrats selected their nominee. "I will respond to the Democrat nominee when they nominate the candidate," Bush said. He added, "Pretty soon there'll be a candidate and then you'll be asking me questions, why aren't you willing to debate, and why aren't you engaging? And the reason why is because the president has got a job to do."