It's fair enough to criticize the president for, like Bill Clinton before him, supporting efforts to outlaw government recognition of gay marriage. But the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force missed the boat with their latest press release. "It is unbecoming of the President of the United States to characterize same-sex couples as 'sinners,' -- said Matt Foreman, Task Force executive director. But what Bush actually said was this:
"I am mindful that we're all sinners. And I caution those who may try to take a speck out of their neighbor's eye when they've got a log in their own. I think it's important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts, to be a welcoming country. On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on the issue of marriage."
So Bush says we're ALL sinners, and then castigates critics of gays for not focusing on their own sinfulness and for their lack of respect toward others.
Foreman's conclusion that Bush is "obviously desperate to keep the country's focus off the war in Iraq and the dismal state of the economy, and he's willing to do it on the backs of gay men and lesbians, even if it means proposing legislation that already exists as law" is overwrought. NGLTF hates Bush so much they just couldn't hear the criticism of the religious right in Bush's remarks!
Meanwhile,
says the GOP's lone openly gay congressman, Jim Kolbe, "The
vast majority of the Republican Party is going to try very hard not
to get into this [gay marriage]
debate." I hope he's right.