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President Bush Flip-flopping on Gay Rights Issue?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the states-rights-suddenly-matter-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a move that has upset some in the GOP, George Bush has suddenly declared his support for civil unions for gay ane lesbian couples. Will such a move help or hurt him this late in the game?"

2 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Unfortunately... by rhakka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Marriage as an institution has existed as a legally binding institution for thousands of years. For a very, very long time it was a transfer of ownership of a woman from father to the new husband.

    Yet it's religious? Religions co-opted marriage. Marriage itself is neither inherently religious nor secular at this point. It has been one, the other or both for so long making such a statement is silly.

  2. Re:How is this flip flopping? by mopomi · · Score: 5, Interesting
    So, according to your definition, women past the age of about 50 http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=94F4 C769-0E44-4BA5-AF20E9E264577527 should not be allowed to marry? A man or woman who is sterile due to age or accident or choice should not be allowed to marry? These situations preclude procreation, and thus, according to the extreme views you espouse above would preclude any reason to marry, other than for some sort of monetary benefit (I guess).
    So this seems reasonable to me, and doesn't strike me as flip flopping.

    Except, of course, for the fact that in previous statements, Bush has stated that in order to "protect" (from what, exactly?) marriage, it must be defined as only between a man and a woman, and that same sex couples do not deserve the same rights as others in this country. However, I agree: it's not flip-flopping, it's just that he doesn't actually know what he's said (or believed) in the past.

    It's remarkable that two (at least) of the last three republican presidents can't (couldn't) remember what they say or do from day to day. It's also remarkable that those two presidents had essentially the same staff.