MUSCATINE, Iowa  Democratic front-runner Howard Dean said his Christian views influenced his decision to sign the bill legalizing civil unions for homosexuals in Vermont.
"The overwhelming evidence is that there is a very significant, substantial genetic component to (homosexuality)," Dean said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."
Homosexual marriage is emerging as a defining social issue of the 2004 elections. Driving the debate is a theological dispute between the Bible's view on homosexuality and the growing secular acceptance of the lifestyle, if not its legal sanction.
Dean said that though he does not often turn to his faith when making policy decisions, he did so on the civil-union bill.
"My view of Christianity … is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind," he told reporters. "So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions."
The law he signed as Vermont governor in 2000 granted homosexual couples the same rights and protections as married heterosexual couples.
Dean said he does not consider homosexuality a sin, but opposes homosexual marriage. Polls indicate a majority of Americans oppose such marriages, and Republicans are pushing a constitutional amendment banning them.
