U.S. House Could Vote Thursday On Same-Sex Amendment

U.S. House majority leader Tom DeLay says he doesn't expect the House to pass a constitutional amendment Thursday defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

But the Texas Republican said the vote will put House members on record before the November elections.

He views it as part of a long-term effort to stop courts from legalizing gay marriage.

DeLay joined Hispanic community and religious leaders at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Samuel Rodriguez Jr. of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference said Hispanic churches oppose gay marriage because children need both a mother and a father.

The president of the Alliance for Marriage, Matt Daniels, added that major black denominations and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops support the Federal Marriage Amendment, although he noted that people of other faiths and no faith support it as well.

In July, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a proposed amendment that would have defined marriage. Several states will vote later this year on similar amendments to their constitutions, though many already have statutes that mimic the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Louisiana has already passed an amendment.

The issue became a national issue last year when Massachusetts' highest court said that the state could not discriminate against homosexual couples by denying them marriage licenses. Also, the mayor of San Francisco began issuing licenses to same-sex couples, though California courts later stopped the proceedings.