Republicans are resurrecting the issue of gay marriage in advance of the November elections in hopes of energizing conservatives disillusioned over immigration and federal spending.
Next week the Senate begins debate on a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban gay marriage.
“Weneed an amendment to come to the floor of the United States Senate to define marriage as that union between one man and one woman,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told CNN.
Earlier this month, President Bush brought up the politically charged issue during a speech to the Republican National Committee.
“Ours is a party that believes in the sanctity of marriage, and ours is a party that believes in strong families ? we got something to run on,” he said, drawing enthusiastic applause from the party faithful.
Bush has rarely spoken about gay marriage since the 2004 election, when the issue helped galvanize conservatives to re-elect the president and expand Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
Gay marriage opponents said they don?t mind Republicans playing up the issue just before elections.
“It?s axiomatic to our political system that the parties use issues” on both sides “because that?s how people are held accountable in elections,” said Matt Daniels, president of Alliance for Marriage. “At the end of the day, having the voters informed about where elected officials stand on this issue is a good thing.”
During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush reminded voters that his opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was one of only 14 senators who voted against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
The act, which defined marriage as being between a man and woman, was signed into law by President Clinton.
In the summer of 2004, Republicans tried to bring the issue of a constitutional ban on gay marriage to a vote on the Senate floor. But the move failed on a 48-50 procedural vote.
Conservatives were more successful at the state level, where gay marriage bans were passed in all 11 states in which they were on ballots in 2004, including crucial swing states such as Ohio.
Gay marriage is not the only issue that Republicans are using to increase voter turnout in November. Bush has also resumed nominating conservative judges, another hot-button issue that energized conservatives in 2004.
