United States President George Bush on Wednesday renewed his election-year appeal for a controversial constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage after that effort suffered a Senate defeat.
”I am deeply disappointed that the effort to pass a constitutional amendment affirming the sanctity of marriage as being between a man and a woman was temporarily blocked in the Senate,” he said in a statement.
”It is important for our country to continue the debate on this important issue, and I urge the House of Representatives to pass this amendment,” said Bush, who was on a two-day campaign swing through the US heartland.
The president’s comments came after his Republican allies in the Senate failed to muster enough support to hold a vote on the amendment, ending three days of contentious, election-year debate on a divisive issue.
Democrats have charged that the Republican majority in the chamber only sought the debate to energise their conservative base ahead of the November 2 election pitting Bush against Democratic Senator John Kerry.
”Activist judges and local officials in some parts of the country are not letting up in their efforts to redefine marriage for the rest of America — and neither should defenders of traditional marriage flag in their efforts,” said Bush. — Sapa-AFP