Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

INTERVIEW MATTHEWS: Well, President Bush called for a constitutional amendment yesterday to ban gay marriage in this country. What's your gut reaction to that, Senator? Do we need to stop it the courts from going wild here? MCCAIN: My gut reaction is the most enduring contract between the government and the people should be only as a last resort amended. This is an incredible document, and I believe that we should find out whether the Defense of Marriage Act works or not. We passed a law that basically calls for that. MATTHEWS: Will it pass the court test? MCCAIN: And enforced. Second of all, the fact that I don't like the fact that this mayor of San Francisco flaunts a state law, but I'm not sure that that's enough of a rationale to amend the Constitution of the United States. In Massachusetts, there's obviously at least a different process going on, so it can vary from state to state. There are different standards and mores and everything else. But the second sentence of this constitutional amendment that they have proposed so far, I don't understand that either?My point is, that let's exhaust all other options, including the Defense of Marriage Act. And then we have to -- maybe we have to. ? HARDBALL, February 25, 2004.