Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment? -Genius of an Idea

Dennis Byrne, writing for RealClearPolitics.com has a brilliant idea: force pro-gay groups to put up or shut up.

If pro-gay groups don't like the Marriage Protection Amendment--declaring that marriage in America shall consist solely of a union of a man and a woman--they should offer one of their own that will settle the issue once and for all.

Byrne suggest this simple wording for a Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment.

"Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sexual orientation."

Of course, as Byrne correctly points out, this will never happen because pro-gay groups know that such an amendment proposal would be a sure loser. So Byrne suggests that President Bush should turn the tables on the pro-gay lobby.

This is what I think that President George W. Bush should do on Monday when he holds his scheduled White House news conference in the Rose Garden. Forget his expected renewal of his support for the Marriage Protection Amendment. Instead, say:

Today I am announcing that I am throwing my full weight--not behind the marriage protection act, as everyone assumed--but behind an amendment that will guarantee gays and other sexual minorities full and equal rights. I am asking the sponsors of the Marriage Protection Amendment, when it comes to a vote this week, to submit a substitute act, called the Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment. If it wins the approval of Congress and the states, so be it. If it doesn't, then that's it. We'll move on. We've already wasted enough time on this baloney.

Bush would be declared a political genius, or a complete fool. Liberals wouldn't know whether to evacuate or go blind. It would flummox his critics and perhaps, however briefly, shut up Molly Ivins.

This won't happen, either, but it does remind me of a similar turning of the table orchestrated by House Republicans last November after Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Republicans quickly wrote a resolution of their own calling for immediate withdrawal. A vote was held, and the resolution was defeated 403-3.

Byrne may just have something here.