FARGO - Equality North Dakota, the statewide advocacy organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) North Dakotans, today sharply condemned President Bush for endorsing the proposed marriage amendment to the federal Constitution. The amendment would ban marriage rights for same-sex couples and could forever invalidate civil unions or other legal protections for same-sex couples and their children, even if state legislatures passed them and voters approved them.

“Not only is it horribly wrong to use the Constitution of the United States to enshrine discrimination against any class of people, it’s even more shameful that his endorsement is designed to jumpstart his campaign for reelection and divert attention from other issues where he is being sharply criticized,” said Robert Uebel, co-chair of Equality North Dakota (END).  “You don’t even have to be in favor of same-sex marriage to see that this is a cheap ploy to use gay and lesbian Americans for political gain.  The president has often spoken of himself as a ‘compassionate conservative’ and a ‘uniter, not a divider.’  Sadly, he has chosen to endorse an amendment which is neither compassionate nor uniting.”

“This proposed constitutional amendment that President Bush is endorsing is part of a long history of regulating the legal sanction of marriage to dehumanize groups in our society. Most people know that African-Americans who were slaves could not legally marry and that it was illegal in many states for blacks and whites to marry until the Supreme Court's 1967 decision Loving vs. Virginia,” said Larry Peterson, END recorder.   “Most of us do not know that in 1913 southern congressmen introduced a constitutional amendment to outlaw interracial marriage.  That effort had the same logic of hatred and ‘defense of marriage’ as the current proposed amendment supported by President Bush,” added Peterson.

Sherri Parsons, co-chair of Equality North Dakota, said, “It is despicable that Mr. Bush seeks to further his political career by constitutionally mandating discrimination and second-class status for lesbian and gay families in America. Responsible, caring citizens need to raise their voices in protest and send a strong message to their legislators that writing discrimination into the Constitution is not what America is all about.”