Republican chairman says gay marriage will be election issue (11029)

?'T~?|terview with ABC News on Sunday, Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie said if gay rights activists make a national issue out of the Massachusetts high court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, then it will become an election issue for Republicans. And when asked if Bush would support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, Gillespie said, "The president has come out strongly and clearly for protecting the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman.... I don't hear a clamoring for people to say we need to change the institution of marriage as being between one man and one woman. If we need to have an amendment to protect it, we should. There's a question, and it's not all conservatives--a lot of conservatives are divided over the question of a constitutional amendment and whether or not the Defense of Marriage Act as passed in the United States Congress would protect a state from having someone come and say 'I got married in Massachusetts. I'm gay, and you have to recognize it here in your state.' I believe this is a matter of conscience, and I believe that if people look at this, determine that the Defense of Marriage Act is not strong enough to withstand a challenge in various states that will make a state that doesn't, where you couldn't get a majority to support gay marriage, then they should support that amendment, yes."