Gay Republicans are stung by President Bush?s support for a ban on same-sex marriages and are divided over where to turn in November, with many weighing party loyalty against outrage.

?I?m going to have a hard time going with Bush. In my good conscience, I don?t know how I can support him,? said Shawn Gardner, one of several hundred party members attending the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization that backed Bush in 2000. ?It?s difficult for me to reconcile him having turned his back on an organization that supported him,? said Gardner, who was among an estimated 1 million gays who voted for the president four years ago.

Many gays see the proposed amendment banning gay marriage as an assault on equal rights. The Log Cabin Republicans have aired 30-second TV ads in several states featuring Vice President Dick Cheney and a remark he made in a debate four years ago: ?People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into.?

?The nation is in the midst of a culture war, and conservative gays and lesbians are on the front line,? said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the organization. ?We have shifted all of our resources and energy to protect the Constitution from being messed with.? The president has jeopardized what should have been an automatic endorsement from the group, said Guerriero.

Bush called for speedy enactment of an amendment banning same-sex marriage after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to prevent gay couples from marrying.