Editing Federal Marriage Amendment (section)

===Bush administration's stance===
In 2003, the White House declined to take a stand on the amendment, although Press Secretary [[Ari Fleischer]] relayed that President [[George W. Bush]] believed that marriage was between a man and a woman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/02/us/white-house-avoids-stand-on-gay-marriage-measure.html?scp=2&sq=%22Federal+marriage+amendment%22&st=nyt|title=White House Avoids Stand On Gay Marriage Measure|last=Stolberg|first=Sheryl Gay|date=July 2, 2003|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 7, 2009}}</ref> In his [[State of the Union address]] on January 20, 2004, President Bush alluded to the recent [[Goodridge v. Department of Public Health|court decision]] in Massachusetts ordering the state to recognize same-sex marriages beginning in May: "Activist judges ... have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives.... If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process."<ref>[[s:George W. Bush's Fourth State of the Union Address|State of the Union, January 20, 2004]]</ref> On February 24, after the same [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court|Massachusetts court]] reiterated that it was insisting on marriage and that civil unions were insufficient, Bush expressed support for this amendment for the first time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2004/02/25/AR2005032201695_pf.html|title=Bush Backs Amendment Banning Gay Marriage|last1=Allen |first1=Mike |last2=Cooperman|first2=Alan|date=February 25, 2004|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A1|access-date=January 15, 2009}}</ref> In August, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]] neither endorsed nor condemned the FMA, arguing that same-sex marriage is an issue for the states to decide.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kaufman|first1=Marc|last2=Allen|first2=Mike |title=Cheney Sees Gay Marriage as State Issue|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29862-2004Aug24.html |access-date=July 21, 2013|newspaper=Washington Post|date=August 25, 2004}}</ref> In 2009, Cheney stated his support for same-sex marriage on a state-by-state basis.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jun-02-na-cheney2-story.html Cheney supports same-sex marriage 'on a state-by-state basis']</ref>

On January 25, 2005, according to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Bush told a privately invited group of [[African-American]] [[community]] and [[religion|religious leaders]] that he remained committed to amending the Constitution to "ban same-sex marriage".<ref>Bumiller, Elizabeth. (January 26, 2005) [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/national/26bush.html "President Discusses Issues With Black Leaders"] ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved June 30, 2006.</ref> Over the course of the next two days, it was revealed by ''The Washington Post'' and ''[[USA Today]]'' that the Bush administration had paid columnists to promote its views. The [[Department of Health and Human Services]] paid [[Maggie Gallagher]] $21,500, and [[Michael McManus (columnist)|Mike McManus]] $49,000, to write syndicated news columns endorsing the FMA.<ref>(January 26, 2005) [https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-26-bush-columnists_x.htm "Bush to agencies: Don't hire columnists to promote agendas"] [[Associated Press]]. Retrieved June 30, 2006.</ref><ref>Drinkard, Jim; Memmott, Mark. (January 27, 2005) [https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-27-hhs_x.htm "HHS says it paid columnist for help"] ''[[USA Today]]''. Retrieved June 30, 2006.</ref> Additionally, Gallagher also received $20,000 in 2002 and 2003 to write a report on government initiatives to strengthen marriage. McManus leads a group called "Marriage Savers" promoting marriage as defined between a man and a woman.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/01/27/mcmanus/|title=Third columnist caught with hand in the Bush till|last=Boehlert|first=Eric|date=January 27, 2005|work=Salon|access-date=January 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607011423/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/01/27/mcmanus/|archive-date=June 7, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>