[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 29 (Monday, July 19, 2004)]
[Pages 1253-1254]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 10, 2004

    Good morning. The United States Senate this past week began an 
important discussion about the meaning of marriage. Senators are 
considering a constitutional amendment to protect the most fundamental 
institution of civilization and to prevent it from being fundamentally 
redefined.
    This difficult debate was forced upon our country by a few activist 
judges and local officials, who have taken it on themselves to change 
the meaning of marriage. In Massachusetts, four judges on the State's 
highest court have ordered the issuance of marriage licenses to 
applicants of the same gender. In San Francisco, city officials issued 
thousands of marriage licenses to people of the same gender, contrary to 
the California Family Code. Lawsuits in several States including New 
Jersey, Florida, Nebraska, and Oregon are also attempting to overturn 
the traditional definition of marriage by court order.
    In 1996, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Defense of Marriage Act, 
and President Clinton signed it into law. That legislation defines 
marriage, for purposes of Federal law, as a union between a man and a 
woman and declares that no State is required to accept another State's 
definition of marriage. Yet an activist court that strikes down 
traditional marriage would have little problem striking down the Defense 
of Marriage Act. Overreaching judges could declare that all marriages 
recognized in Massachusetts or San Francisco be recognized as marriages 
everywhere else.
    When judges insist on imposing their arbitrary will on the people, 
the only alternative

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left to the people is an amendment to the Constitution--the only law a 
court cannot overturn. A constitutional amendment should never be 
undertaken lightly. Yet to defend marriage, our Nation has no other 
choice.
    A great deal is at stake in this matter. The union of a man and 
woman in marriage is the most enduring and important human institution, 
and the law can teach respect or disrespect for that institution. If our 
laws teach that marriage is the sacred commitment of a man and a woman, 
the basis of an orderly society, and the defining promise of a life, 
that strengthens the institution of marriage. If courts create their own 
arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract and cut 
marriage off from its cultural, religious, and natural roots, then the 
meaning of marriage is lost and the institution is weakened.
    The Massachusetts court, for example, has called marriage ``an 
evolving paradigm.'' That sends a message to the next generation that 
marriage has no enduring meaning and that ages of moral teaching and 
human experience have nothing to teach us about this institution. For 
ages, in every culture, human beings have understood that traditional 
marriage is critical to the well-being of families. And because families 
pass along values and shape character, traditional marriage is also 
critical to the health of society. Our policies should aim to strengthen 
families, not undermine them. And changing the definition of traditional 
marriage will undermine the family structure.
    On an issue of this great significance, opinions are strong and 
emotions run deep. All of us have a duty to conduct this discussion with 
civility and decency toward one another. All people deserve to have 
their voices heard. And that is exactly the purpose behind the 
constitutional amendment process. American democracy, not court orders, 
should decide the future of marriage in America.
    The process has now begun in the Congress. I urge Members of the 
House and Senate to pass and send to the States for ratification an 
amendment that defines marriage in the United States as a union of a man 
and woman as husband and wife.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on July 9 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 10. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
July 9 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this 
address.