Kent sent me this link and I just had to say something.

I remember this all quite vividly. In 2004, President Bush didn’t seem to have a problem with allowing states to give gay couples the benefits of marriage, as long as it was called something other than marriage.

“I don’t think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that’s what a state chooses to do so,” the president said, just days before Election Day. “(S)tates ought to be able to have the right to pass ... laws that enable people to, you know, be able to have rights, like others.” Apparently either the president has changed his mind, or this position does not extend to the D.C. government.

Now, the Administration is saying that they strongly opposed to a D.C. Government bill that would afford gay couples in the District of Columbia the rights of marriage. “The Administration strongly opposes the bill’s exclusion of a longstanding provision that disallows the use of Federal funds to register unmarried, cohabitating couples in the District, to enable them to qualify for benefits on the same basis as legally married couples.”

Yesterday the Bush administration issued a veto threat of the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act -- which funds certain federal government and DC agencies -- because of a domestic partnership provision to allow same-sex couples to qualify for the same benefits as straight couples.....

“The Administration strongly opposes the bill’s exclusion of a longstanding provision that disallows the use of Federal funds to register unmarried, cohabitating couples in the District, to enable them to qualify for benefits on the same basis as legally married couples. Under Federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Federal tax dollars are not used to extend employment benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees, and D.C. should not enjoy an exception to this rule. If the final version of H.R. 2829 does not include this longstanding provision, the President’s senior advisors would recommend he veto the bill.” (source)

So, I guess the President has changed his mind? Or perhaps, like so many other things, has simply fed us a pack of lies? Or perhaps, the President doesn’t really have a brain to work with and is simply relying on the likes of Dick Cheney (who tells the President what to think because the President can’t really put together a coherent thought anyway) to come to this conclusion. Surprising though if that be the case. I forgot that Dick Cheney is so supportive of his gay daughter and her partner friend/acquaintance.

Go figure. And here I thought that the Administration would be supportive of legal rights of gay couples for D.C. It’s not as if they are asking for “marriage”. They said they would be supportive of a “civil union”, or a “legal arrangement”.

They lied. AGAIN.