George W. Bush Offered To Officiate Same-Sex Wedding

Despite winning re-election by opposing gay marriage, George W. Bush recently offered to officiate a same-sex wedding.

In 2004, President George W. Bush pushed for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

He also campaigned on a platform of protecting “marriage as an institution, between a man and a woman,” and Karl Rove, Bush’s political strategist, ensured that large numbers of Republican voters in eleven states would go to the polls by having unconstitutional initiatives banning same-sex marriage placed on their ballots.

Less than one month before the 2004 election, Bush said in a debate with his Democratic challenger John Kerry, “I proposed a constitutional amendment. I was worried that activist judges are defining the definition of marriage, and the surest way to protect marriage between a man and woman is to amend the Constitution. It has also the benefit of allowing citizens to participate in the process.”

 
Laura Bush, George W. Bush, Helen Thorgalsen

But less than a decade later, former President George W. Bush offered to officiate at the wedding of family friends, a Kennebunkport, Maine same-sex couple. Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, attended and was an official witness at that wedding. Bush himself, despite his offer to officiate, reportedly ran into a scheduling conflict.

Bonnie Clement, George H.W. Bush, Helen Thorgalsen

The Washington Blade today reported on the news, pointing to a report in Saturday’s Boston Globe.

“Like his father, Jeb Bush is an unusually speedy player, often finishing an 18-round game within two and a half hours,” the Globe reported. 

“Some mornings, Bush drops into H.B. Provisions, a cozy general store owned by Bonnie Clement and her wife, Helen Thorgalsen (George H.W. Bush made international headlines when he attended their wedding in 2013; George W. Bush offered to perform the ceremony but had a scheduling conflict).”

The Blade noted it had “placed a call in with the George W. Bush presidential library and the George W. Bush Center to confirm the former president sought to officiate a same-sex wedding and whether that means he now supports same-sex marriage. The Blade also contacted H.B. Provisions in Kennebunkport regarding the Boston Globe. Before hanging up, someone who answered the phone replied, ‘There’s no story there. There’s nothing to tell. Please just leave me alone.'”

 

This article has been updated to properly identify John Kerry as the 2004 Democratic nominee.

Image, top, by The Bush Center via Flickr
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