American President, George Bush has been given an ultimatum by conservative Christian leaders that previously played a pivotal role in Bush’s recent re-election to the White House. They demanded that the US leader outlaw same-sex marriage and speak out against "gay unions".

A letter written last week to the President’s Chief advisor, Karl Rove, has evidenced the unrest among Bush’s supporters. In the letter, a new coalition of leading Christian groups issued the demand and called for swift action to be undertaken.

However, Bush has indicated that for now nothing will happen on the matter, and the proposed federal amendment that could lead to a ban being contained in the US constitution on gay marriage will not be rushed through.

In further defiance of the conservative Christian coalition, Bush also did not even mention the issue during his inaugural address, and last week the matter was not one of the ten points listed on the agenda for the Republican leaders during their Congress.

The Christian coalition have come together as the ‘Arlington Group’, and contains some of Bush’s most vital conservative supporters. They have now threatened to withhold much needed support for one of the president’s top domestic schemes (revamping the US pension scheme), unless he presses onwards for their political issue.

The letter, which has been leaked to the press stated, "We couldn't help but notice the contrast between how the President is approaching the difficult issue of social security privatisation, where the public is deeply divided, and the marriage issue, where public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side. Is he prepared to spend significant political capital on privatisation but reluctant to devote the same energy to preserving traditional marriage?"

"If so, it would create outrage with countless voters who stood with him just a few weeks ago, including an unprecedented number of African-Americans, Latinos and Catholics who broke with tradition and supported the President solely because of this issue."

During last year’s US Presidential race, same-sex marriage was a key issue, and eleven States actually backed local votes to ban it. President Bush gathered much needed support from conservative Christians after he supported a renewed effort to get the federal amendment (which failed at first attempt) passed through the Senate.

Following his victorious re-election, Bush and Rove commented that the government would put the proposed amendment at the top of its agenda for domestic policies this year. However, now seemingly Bush has backed away from the firm stance that was seen prior to the election, and has reported that he would not aggressively lobby senators on the issue.

Bush commented that many thought the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which allows each state not to recognise homosexual marriages was sufficient enough a legislative measure.

The US President further indicated that he did not want to tie himself up in controversial social issues when he showed little support for anti-abortion legislation. Last week thousands were disappointed after Bush only gave a telephone message to support their annual march for Life protest.

To bring a glimmer of hope to conservative Christians, a White House spokesman, Trent Duffy reported that Bush "remains very committed to a marriage amendment" and "was simply talking about a situation that exists in the Senate, not about his personal commitment or willingness to push this issue."

However, words no longer seem sufficient for Bush’s previously un-swaying Christian backers. At a Christian Inaugural Eve Gala many spoke about their frustration that the Bush now seems very much a watered-down version of the stern and clearly-visioned Bush they saw in the run-up to the elections last year.

One of the leaders of the Arlington Group, James Dobson gave a firm warning to Bush; "If Republicans do what they've done in the past, which is say, ‘Thanks so much for putting us in power: now we don’t want to talk to you any more’, they will pay a serious price."