Letter: Gays not part of Bush compassion

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

President Bush said it was those big, bad activist judges and other public officials who made him do it. They're to blame, he said, for leaving him no choice but to call for a constitutional amendment forever banning same-sex marriage.

Ironically, gay and lesbian couples are anxious to get into marriages while straight couples are anxious to get out. The high divorce rate (50 percent) demonstrates that without any help, influence or fault of the gay community we break and abandon the vows we make to stay together for life. Despite this statistic, Bush still insists it's gay people who threaten the sanctity of marriage.

What Bush really finds threatening, however, is his drop in the polls and his chances for re-election. That's why he created this false issue intended to distract us from real ones. That's why he's pushing for an amendment that restricts, not expands, the rights of American citizens.

That's why he's doing the bidding of his 4-million-member socially conservative base who is behind this amendment and who promised to sit out the election if they didn't get it. And that's why he unnecessarily singled out and hurt a segment of our society who, by happenstance, are homosexual, but are no different than the rest of us in their desire for acceptance and equal rights.

A truly compassionate conservative would understand that.

JOYCE SEGAL