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GLOBE EDITORIAL
Bush's marriage warTHE UNITED States Constitution has not been amended to address the rights of citizens in 33 years. Like other adjustments, the 26th Amendment expanded those rights -- in that case, of 18-year-olds to vote. It is a sad day when the president of the United States supports restricting civil rights in the Constitution simply to deny equal justice to Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian.
Luckily, it is not easy to amend the Constitution. It requires a two-thirds vote of Congress and 38 states to ratify. The Founders knew something Bush has forgotten: that the essential truths of our nation should be shielded from the heat of emotion or the imperatives of political campaigns. Most Americans seem to understand this distinction. Though such questions should not be decided by poll results, majorities in most polls currently say they oppose gay marriages, but majorities also say they oppose ripping up the Constitution to ban them. Bush's claim, made Tuesday, that marriage cannot be severed from its "cultural, religious, and natural roots" betrays an essential misunderstanding. Marriage is primarily a secular legal institution, not a religious one. Bush's statement invalidates millions of American marriages performed in city halls and by justices of the peace without benefit of religious imprimatur. Religious blessings are important to many people, but they are not required for a marriage to be legal. Bush argues that court actions in Massachusetts have sown confusion, requiring federal clarity. But what is the crisis, exactly? Gay and lesbian couples want to participate in a fundamentally conservative institution. It is Bush and fellow opponents who are creating confusion and crisis by appealing to base prejudice, distracting voters from other concerns and fighting the inevitable tide of justice that will eventually embrace us all. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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