Bauer says it was quite a spectacle earlier this week when most of the Democratic presidential candidates, as he puts it, "lined up for inspection" at the Human Rights Campaign's presidential forum. He says the forum by the pro-homosexual group "devolved into a pandering competition" with three of the candidates -- Al Sharpton, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and Senator Carol Moseley Braun -- giving full endorsement to homosexual marriage, and the others saying they back civil unions. [See Earlier Article]

Gary Bauer

Bauer says the Democrats' pro-homosexual stand in this area gives President Bush and Republicans a great opportunity to draw a "bright line distinction" between them and their liberal opponents. But he wonders if that is going to happen.

He asks: "Will the Party of Lincoln and Reagan continue to stand unapologetically for traditional family values in contrast to the growing radicalism of the Democrats?"

Bauer notes there is still silence from the president on whether he will support the constitutional amendment guaranteeing that marriage in America will remain the institution it has always been: one man and one woman.

'A Test of Political Fellowship'
Like Gary Bauer, Christian columnist Joel Belz is concerned about the White House's reluctance to see the need for a Federal Marriage Amendment, much less stand behind such legislation. That has compelled Belz, writing for World magazine, to effectively draw what he calls "a line in the sand."

"The Bush Administration might as well hear it straight, and hear it fast: Don't you dare make a single tiny concession on homosexual marriage," Belz writes.

After meeting with a group of pro-family Bush supporters, Belz came away with the clear message that the position the president takes on the issue of same-sex marriage will prove a key test of his "largely happy alliance so far with the so-called religious right."

"In bluntest terms, [that group of supporters is] saying to their friend George Bush: 'Get this one right, or we will not support you in November of 2004,'" he says.

In light of the recent pro-homosexual Supreme Court decision regarding sodomy laws -- and decades of dealing with "a court that invents willy-nilly rights" -- Belz says pro-family advocates are justified in making some specific demands of President Bush. Those demands?

• A clear statement by the president that he opposes the whole concept of homosexual marriage;
• His endorsement of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution clarifying that marriage will always in this society be only between one man and one woman; and
• His commitment that he will appoint no future justices to the Supreme Court who have not assured him of their allegiance to traditional marriage.

"We are telling you, Mr. President, that you have the great opportunity to do what is right on this matter," Belz continues. "The very character of human existence is at stake. It is not a murky matter, and you should neither equivocate nor delay."

Belz says such expectations and demands should demonstrate clearly to the president that for pro-family advocates, this issue of homosexual marriage extends beyond political consequences and may be the biggest public issue of their lifetimes.

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