President
Bush
announced
a
“Healthy
Marriage”
initiative
Jan.
14
that
will
invest
$1.5
billion
in
programs
that
promote
marriage,
especially
among
low-income
couples,
and
there
is
speculation
that
the
president
will
officially
announce
the
initiative
in
his
upcoming
State
of
the
Union
address,
the
New
York
Times
reported.
Social
conservatives
praised
the
initiative
for
promoting
marriage,
but
they
also
voiced
concern
that
marriage
must
be
protected
through
a
proposed
Federal
Marriage
Amendment
banning
legal
recognition
for
gay
couples.
Tony
Perkins,
executive
director
of
the
Family
Research
Council,
a
conservative
lobby
group,
said
in
an
e-mail
newsletter
that
the
group’s
political
opponents
are
seeking
to
redefine
marriage
out
of
existence
and
that
the
president
“must
use
his
upcoming
State
of
the
Union
Address
to
clarify
his
support
for
a
federal
marriage
amendment.”
“Doing
so
would
not
only
enhance
the
amendment’s
chances
for
success,
but
it
would
also
garner
the
president
greater
support
among
the
American
public,
which
is
increasingly
supportive
of
efforts
to
protect
marriage,”
Perkins
said.
The
Times
reported
Wednesday
that
administration
officials
did
not
know
yet
if
the
president
would
use
the
State
of
the
Union
Address,
set
for
Jan.
26,
to
promote
a
constitutional
amendment,
but
they
expressed
confidence
that
the
“healthy
marriage”
initiative
would
please
conservatives.
Yet
some
social
conservatives
remain
dissatisfied
by
what
they
see
as
a
president
waffling
on
a
critical
issue
for
them.
“We
have
a
hard
time
understanding
why
the
reservation,”
said
Glenn
T.
Stanton,
a
policy
analyst
at
Focus
on
the
Family,
a
conservative
Christian
organization
as
reported
in
the
New
York
Times.
“You
see
him
inching
in
the
right
direction.
But
the
question
for
us
is,
why
this
inching?
Why
not
just
get
there?”
The
Bush
administration
has
struggled
to
take
a
clear
stance
on
gay
marriage
since
even
before
the
president’s
inauguration
three
years
ago.
In
the
vice
presidential
debates
during
the
2000
campaign,
Dick
Cheney,
who
has
a
lesbian
daughter,
indicated
that
the
issue
of
same-sex
unions
should
be
left
to
the
states
to
decide.
In
an
interview
last
week
with
the
Denver
Post,
Cheney
reiterated
that
position.
But
at
the
same
time,
he
said
if
the
president
endorses
a
constitutional
amendment
banning
gay
marriage,
he
would
support
the
administration’s
position.
“What
I
said
in
2000
was
that
the
question
of
whether
or
not
some
sort
of
status,
legal
status
or
sanction
ought
to
be
granted
in
the
case
of
a
relationship
between
two
individuals
of
the
same
sex
was
historically
a
matter
the
states
had
decided
and
resolved,
and
that
is
the
way
I
preferred
it,”
Cheney
said.
But
“at
this
stage,
obviously,
the
president
is
going
to
have
to
make
a
decision
in
terms
of
what
administration
policy
is
on
this
particular
provision,
and
I
will
support
whatever
decision
he
makes.”
According
to
the
Denver
Post,
Cheney
declined
to
say
whether
he
has
discussed
the
issue
of
gay
marriage
with
the
president,
or
has
shared
his
perspective
as
the
parent
of
a
gay
daughter.
“I
don’t
talk
about
the
advice
I
give
the
president,”
Cheney
said.
“That
is
why
he
listens.”
Mary
Cheney
is
a
well-known
figure
in
the
Colorado
gay
community,
having
worked
for
the
Colorado
Rockies
baseball
team
and
Coors
Brewing
Co.,
where,
among
other
duties,
she
worked
on
outreach
to
gay
men
and
lesbians,
according
to
the
Denver
Post.
In
December,
President
Bush
said
he
would
support
a
constitutional
amendment
banning
gay
marriage
“if
necessary,”
without
clearly
defining
that
qualifier.
At
the
same
time,
Bush
suggested
that
the
existing
Defense
of
Marriage
Act,
passed
in
1996
and
signed
by
President
Clinton,
sufficiently
protected
those
states
that
choose
not
to
recognize
gay
marriages
among
their
own
residents
or
those
of
other
states.
