Rodney Croome . gay advocate

"Bush, Kerry debate why people are gay"

This article was written by Rex Wockner.

Most gays and lesbians lose interest in the question of "why" they're
gay -- or what "made" them gay -- and just get on with living their
lives.

But moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News thought it was an interesting
question and he tried to make George W. Bush and John Kerry answer it
during the third and final presidential debate Oct. 13.

Bush said he didn't know if we're born gay or something turns us gay.
Kerry said we're born that way. Then both went on to defend their
positions on gay issues.

Here's how it went down:

Schieffer: Both of you are opposed to gay marriage. But to understand
how you have come to that conclusion, I want to ask you a more basic
question: Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?

Bush: You know, Bob, I don't know. I just don't know. I do know that we
have a choice to make in America and that is to treat people with
tolerance and respect and dignity. It's important that we do that. And I
also know in a free society people, consenting adults, can live the way
they want to live. And that's to be honored.

But as we respect someone's rights, and as we profess tolerance, we
shouldn't change -- or have to change -- our basic views on the sanctity
of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I think it's very
important that we protect marriage as an institution between a man and a
woman. I proposed a constitutional amendment. The reason I did so was
because I was worried that activist judges are actually defining the
definition of marriage, and the surest way to protect marriage between a
man and woman is to amend the Constitution.

It has also the benefit of allowing citizens to participate in the
process. After all, when you amend the Constitution, state legislatures
must participate in the ratification of the Constitution. I'm deeply
concerned that judges are making those decisions and not the citizenry
of the United States.

You know, Congress passed a law called DOMA, the Defense of Marriage
Act. My opponent was against it. It basically protected states from the
action of one state to another. It also defined marriage as between a
man and woman. But I'm concerned that that will get overturned. And if
it gets overturned, then we'll end up with marriage being defined by
courts. And I don't think that's in our nation's interest.

Schieffer: Senator Kerry?

Kerry: We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to
Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's
being who she was, she's being who she was born as. I think if you talk
to anybody, it's not choice.

I've met people who struggled with this for years, people who were in a
marriage because they were living a sort of convention, and they
struggled with it. And I've met wives who are supportive of their
husbands or vice versa when they finally sort of broke out and allowed
themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made them. I
think we have to respect that.

The president and I share the belief that marriage is between a man and
a woman. I believe that. I believe marriage is between a man and a
woman. But I also believe that because we are the United States of
America, we're a country with a great, unbelievable Constitution, with
rights that we afford people, that you can't discriminate in the
workplace. You can't discriminate in the rights that you afford people.
You can't disallow someone the right to visit their partner in a
hospital. You have to allow people to transfer property, which is why
I'm for partnership rights and so forth.

Now, with respect to DOMA and the marriage laws, the states have always
been able to manage those laws. And they're proving today, every state,
that they can manage them adequately.

-end-