Bush wants to add an amendment to the US Constitution that would ban same-sex marriages, but not to ban civil unions. I haven't really landed on die hard opinion on this issue yet, but I think gay couples should have the OPTION of marriage. Banning it is a bit overkill. What harm would a married gay couple do versus a civil-unioned couple? What's the difference for those that don't want gays to be married?
Amending the constitution is a bit of a pain in the ass. Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution establishes rules of a two-stage process required to change the document.
Two-thirds of the members in the U.S. House of Representatives (290 members) and the U.S. Senate (67 senators) must vote to add or change an amendment, or 2/3 -- 33 -- of the 50 state legislatures must request the change through a Constitutional Convention.
Three-fourths, or 38, of the 50 state legislatures must vote to accept the change.
That ain't easy.
Giving due credit, I got a lot of this information from this page on CNN.com.
