© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

President George W. Bush announced today he opposes efforts to legalize "gay" marriage and has lawyers working to codify the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

"I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman and I think we ought to codify that one way or another, and we have lawyers looking at that," he told reporters in response to a question during a news conference at the White House Rose Garden.

"I'm mindful that we're all sinners. And I caution those who may try to take the speck out of their neighbor's eye when they have a log in their own," said Bush in a reference to the Bible verse in the book of Matthew. "I think it's very important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts – to be a welcoming country. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on issues such as marriage."

The movement to legalize "gay" marriage gained momentum following last month's Supreme Court decision rejecting Texas' ban on same-sex sodomy. As WorldNetDaily reported, the landmark 6-3 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas is regarded by advocates as endorsing a constitutional right to "gay" sex.

"Today the U.S. Supreme Court closed the door on an era of intolerance and ushered in a new era of respect and equal treatment for gay Americans. This historic civil rights ruling promises real equality to gay people in our relationships, our families and our everyday lives," commented Kevin Cathcart, executive director for Lambda Legal Defense Fund, which brought the case.

In his dissenting opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia warned the decision would pave the way toward legal homosexual unions.

"The court has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda," Scalia wrote, noting that the majority opinion "dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned."

WorldNetDaily reported other recent developments further the homosexual cause, including the New York Times' decision to publish notices of same-sex ceremonies along with its wedding announcements and the September-October issue of Condé Nast's Bride's magazine currently on newsstands features an article on homosexual weddings.

Bush has long opposed "gay" marriage but earlier this month said a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions wasn't yet "necessary."

His decision comes amid the release of a new poll that shows a backlash in public sentiment to the push to legalize "gay" marriage.

The USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll found 57 percent surveyed said they opposed civil unions – the most opposition since the question was first asked in 2000 – while 40 percent voiced support.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, based in New York, downplayed the poll results.

"I think this is just one snapshot that captured a moment in which people were absorbing the tremendous amount of discussion about gay people and family and equality," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bush's announcement also comes has a Zogby International poll indicates voters aren't sold on the homosexual agenda. Of 504 likely Democratic and Independent voters surveyed, more than half, or 52 percent, said they don't favor a candidate who supports "gay" marriage. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they would vote for a candidate who supports the concept.

This week the Vatican is releasing details of an action plan to battle the legalization of same-sex unions by civil governments.

In a document titled "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons," which is expected to be released tomorrow, the Vatican calls on Catholic politicians to help stop the movement.

In January, Pope John Paul II approved guidelines for Catholic politicians that stated Church opposition to abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage was not up for negotiation.

The directives emphasized the need "to safeguard the protection and promotion of the family, based on monogamous marriage between people of different sexes and to preserve it in its unity and stability in the face of modern laws on divorce."

"Other forms of life together can in no way be legally equated with it, or receive as such legal recognition," the "doctrinal note" stated.

While homosexual marriage is not legal in the United States, Vermont has a civil-union law that allows couples to register and receive most of the benefits and rights of married couples without calling it marriage. Earlier this year, California's state Assembly passed a historic bill that would award virtually all the rights of marriage to homosexual "domestic partners."

Thirty-seven U.S. states have passed laws that bar them from honoring same-sex marriage from another jurisdiction. However, in Massachusetts and New Jersey, homosexual couples have filed lawsuits, and some analysts believe if a marriage license were issued in one of those states, it would have to be recognized in all others under the U.S. Constitution's "Full Faith and Credit Clause."

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Poll suggests backlash on 'gay' issues