Bush Statement as Marriages Begin in Massachusetts is a 'Dishonest and Irresponsible' Attempt to 'Circumvent Our System of Justice,' Lambda Legal Says

(New York, Monday, May 17, 2004) In response to remarks from President Bush today that "the institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges," Lambda Legal issued the following statement: "This president needs a high-school civics lesson. It's dishonest and irresponsible to attack a court for doing its job. The court's job is to make sure that everyone's constitutional rights are protected, and that's exactly what happened in Massachusetts. President Bush is putting himself in the company of segregationists who made the same attacks on judges who upheld the constitutional rights of African-American people exactly 50 years ago today, after Brown v. Board of Education. These are different issues and a different generation, but the same old smear tactic. It didn't work to circumvent our system of justice 50 years ago, and it won't work today." --Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal

Illustrating the similarity of the attacks on the Massachusetts high court's ruling on marriage with attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education exactly 50 years ago, Lambda Legal also released "Different Issues, Different Generation, Same Smear Tactic," comparing quotes from segregationist opponents of the Brown ruling with quotes from Bush and other right-wing opponents of rulings in favor of gay Americans’ constitutional rights.

Read more on Lambda Legal's Judging Discrimination campaign -- which exposes the inaccurate rhetoric about so-called "activist judges."

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Contact: Fred Shank, 212-809-8585 ext: 267