"After five years in office, President Bush still offers a dangerously incompetent response to those who seek the most basic legal protections for their families. The Democratic Party supports extending equal rights and responsibilities to same-sex families.

At the minimum, Democratic leaders across the country have called for granting equal legal status to these families through civil unions and federal benefits. And every day, more Democrats call for full marriage equality, as do the platforms of state Democratic parties like California, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and Washington State who are joined in their support of full marriage equality by the College Democrats and Young Democrats of America. This year, we will see Democratic gubernatorial nominees champion full marriage equality in California, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon, demonstrating a stark contrast to the failed, anti-gay policies of Republicans and the Bush Administration."

- Eric Stern, Executive Director

President Bush affirmed his opposition to equal benefits for same-sex families at a press conference held Tuesday afternoon at the White House. The following is a transcript of his remarks.

QUESTION: Mr. President, two years ago, Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, heard your State of the Union address, went back to California and began authorizing the marriage of gay men and lesbians. Thousands of people got married.

The California courts later ruled he had overstepped his bounds. But we were left with these pictures of thousands of families getting married. And they had these children. Thousands of children.

Now, that might have changed the debate, but it didn’t.

But in light of that, my question is: Are you still confident that society’s interest and the interests of those children in gay families are being met by government saying their parents can’t marry?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I believe society’s interests are met by defining marriage as between a man and a woman. That’s what I believe.

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National Stonewall Democrats is the only national organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democrats, with more than 90 local chapters across the nation. NSD is committed to working through the Democratic Party to advance the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

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