President Bush announced Tuesday that he backs the creation of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, one day after giving what has been considered his first campaign speech of 2004.
An similar amendment proposal to Wisconsin's constitution passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee Tuesday as well. To become an amendment, the proposal must now pass two consecutive legislative sessions and be presented to the public in the form of a referendum.
Bush and his supporters are framing the amendment as a way to prevent the Supreme Court of one state from dictating policy for all 50 states.
To become a part of the constitution an amendment must pass with a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate and be ratified by three-fourths of the states. States can also convene for a constitutional convention.
This move by Bush makes sense, given widespread support from his own party and some independents and moderates, according to UW-Madison political science Professor Charles Franklin.
\[The issue of gay marriage] could be used once again to tar the Democrats with, you know, being crazy to the left,"" said Virginia Sapiro, a UW-Madison political science professor. ""I don't think moderates are in favor of gay marriage enough for that to hurt him.""
According to Franklin, the issue of gay marriage is tougher politically for Democrats because while the vast majority of Republican voters oppose it, there is more discord within the Democratic Party. Franklin pointed to Union members and African Americans as two traditionally Democratic-voting groups with differing views on the issue.
The renewed popularity of an amendment to the federal Constitution banning gay marriage is partly in response to recent events in Massachusetts and San Francisco, Calif., according to Donald Ferree, senior sociology lecturer at UW-Madison.
Individual states have been taking up this issue on their own, including the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling the state must allow same-sex marriages.
""Gay marriages will be legal in Massachusetts in May,"" Ferree said. ""There's just no way around that.""
The federal Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, exempts states from having to recognize same-sex marriages under the ""full faith and credit"" clause of the Constitution. This act has never been tested in court, however, because currently no state has legalized same-sex marriage.
With Wisconsin's Assembly Judiciary Committee ruling Tuesday, the state comes one step closer to banning same-sex marriages and defining marriage as between ""one man and one woman.\
