The Marriage Amendment

The WaPost gives a piercing article on the political coalition pushing forward the federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage here. The wedge issue is "marriage" vs. "civil unions".

There are 3 drafts circulating: the leading one has already been introduced as a bill in the House and Senate, and is meant to stop gay "marriage" but is silent on civil unions.

Number two looks to ban civil unions, too -- and it is being drafted by a veritable Hall of Doom: James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer of American Values, William J. Bennett of Empower America, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Sandy Rios of Concerned Women for America and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation. These are the conservative base of the Republican party. I can't recall seeing this band of True Believers united behind any previous cause quite like they do here, which means that they see themselves marching into a great battle, for which they need to be shoulder to shoulder.

Number three is a ridiculous piece which has no chance, looking to ban any legal notice on "non-marital sexual relationships", ignoring the legal conflict with the common-law marriage.

So we have number 1 and number 2. Number 1 is already in play, but number 2 is more politically interesting, since that group is not one any Republican can afford to ignore, and because it seeks to ban civil unions. They are lining up to make this the Republican issue of 2004.