What people are saying about the proposed constitutional amendment

It is wrong to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution, and it is shameful to use attacks against gay and lesbian families as an election strategy. President Bush came to the White House pledging to unite us and is now seeking to divide the country for his own political gain. - Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe

All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign. - Senator John Kerry

If [Bush] really wants to help married couples, what he should be doing is helping them with their economic problems, their health care problems. - Senator John Edwards

President Bush will go down in history as the first president to try to write discrimination back into the Constitution. - Senator Ted Kennedy

These are the desperate acts of a desperate president who is going to try and drag this country through a cultural war to jump-start a failing campaign. - Cheryl Jacques, president of Human Rights Campaign

I will say that I'm not supportive of amending the Constitution on this issue. I believe that this should go through the courts, and I think that we're at a point where it's not necessary. - Representative David Dreier (R-Calif.), chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee and a co-chairman of Bush's campaign in California in 2000