Bush stands by decision to support ban

Calling marriage between men and women "the ideal," President Bush defended his decision Friday to seek a constitutional amendment outlawing gay weddings.\n"I believed it was important to act because the institution of marriage was being changed by the courts," Bush said Friday. "It's an issue that's very sensitive, and the voice of the people needed to be heard. And the constitutional process was the best way to do such."\nBush repeatedly called the debate over same-sex marriage "sensitive" and "difficult" and called on all sides in the debate to "hold true without condemning anybody else."\nBush ran as a "compassionate conservative" in 2000 and is trying anew to bridge the divide between his conservative base and critical swing voters. Some advisers fear any hint of intolerance would alienate middle-of-the-road Americans.\nSen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said last week that "this nation has made too much progress in the ongoing battle for civil rights to take such an unjustified step backwards now."\nThere is no guarantee that an amendment would win wide support. While some legislators in conservative states say there's passionate support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, others say that altering one of the nation's founding documents raises troubling questions.\nThe developments in Massachusetts, where the state's top court ruled that the state constitution requires recognition of gay marriages, and in San Francisco, where the city has challenged the state's law refusing to recognize such marriages, have raised the stakes even higher.\nThe rules for a constitutional amendment require a two-thirds majority in each house of Congress before it goes to the states. Three-quarters of the states must ratify the amendment (or, in a variation, could be asked to hold constitutional conventions).\nMany amendments have been proposed and argued, but few have actually gone to the states. The most celebrated recent failure -- the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have enshrined equality between men and women -- missed by three states, winning ratification in only 35.\nFourteen states, including Indiana, are seeking this year to amend their state constitutions to ban same-sex marriages. If Indiana is any clue, it'll be a tough fight.\nLast week, Democrats in the state House refused to let a Republican leader speak on amending the state constitution, spurring GOP members to walk out. Democrats heckled them as they left. \n"This is the most critical piece of the people's business," shouted GOP Rep. Brian Bosma.\nIndiana is a state where only a simple majority is required for an amendment to pass. Democrats control a bare majority in the House, and Republicans control the Senate.\nIndiana Gov. Joe Kernan said Friday that House Republicans should put the issue of gay marriage aside so the chamber could act on other issues in the final week of the legislative session.\nThe partisan dispute over a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage prevented or severely limited action on other matters in the House last week.\nThe latest clash occurred Thursday, when Republicans walked out after Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer turned back all attempts to vote or extend debate on the proposal.\nRepublicans said they would return to the Statehouse on Monday but would only take the floor if Bauer pledged to treat them with respect. Democrats control the chamber 51-49, but at least two-thirds of the total membership must be present to conduct business.\nKernan said Bauer was within his powers as speaker to block efforts at advancing the gay-marriage proposal. But he said he hopes both sides cool off over the weekend so they can get the impasse behind them Monday.\nThe session is scheduled to adjourn Thursday.