Another Bush Moves to the Right
May 22, 2006: In a move that will shock none but the simplest among us, Jeb Bush is moving to the right on gay rights. This is from 365Gay.com.
After saying for more than a year he opposed amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage Florida Gov. Jeb Bush now says he may support the proposed amendment.
In the past Bush has stated that he believes Florida’s Defense of Marriage law is sufficient but at a Friday fundraiser for the conservative Florida Family Policy Council he said he is rethinking his position.
Bush that that decisions in courts across the country that appear to favor gay unions and parenting - although not necessarily marriage - have made him reconsider the amendment.
The council has long called for an amendment to block courts in the state from overturning DOMA and was behind the push to keep Terri Schiavo on a feeding tube.
The governor’s apparent reversal on the gay marriage amendment angered the state’s largest LGBT civil rights group.
“The governor is effectively fundraising for an organization that wants to put discrimination right into our constitution,” Equality Florida spokesperson Brian Winfield told the Sun Sentinel.
“It’s an embarrassment to have the Republicans cater to a rabid antigay group,” he said. “The governor is supposed to represent all Floridians, and I don’t believe that most people in Florida think like this group.”