Bush defends marriage

"A constitutional amendment would not take this issue away from the states, as some have argued," Bush said. "It would take the issue away from the courts and put it directly before the American people."

First lady Laura Bush said recently that while Americans want to debate the issue, "I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool."

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter, Mary, is a lesbian, splits with Bush on the issue. Cheney said he thinks Americans should do everything they can to accommodate any type of relationship, and that there should not necessarily be a federal policy in this area.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said Bush was favoring an amendment that would give Americans license to discriminate against homosexuals.

"The fact that he's out of step with the first lady and the powerful vice president tells me who he's answering to today," Solmonese said.

With Bush taking center stage on the issue, advocates on both sides of the issue rushed to comment.

On the left, Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU legislative office in Washington, said lawmakers rightly rejected the amendment in 2004 and should do so again. "Discrimination has no place in America, and certainly not in our founding document," she said.

On the right, Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, argued that same-sex marriage advocates are trying to circumvent the democratic process and redefine marriage through the courts. "Marriage is the social glue that unites the two halves of the human race to share in the enterprise of raising the next generation," Daniels said.