WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, hailed Thursday's passage of the federal Marriage Protection Act by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The measure, which passed by a vote of 233 to 194, protects the right of states to define marriage as only between a man and a woman without interference from the federal courts.
"The Marriage Protection Act reaffirms the current national consensus on homosexual marriage by leaving to the states and the American people the right to define marriage in this country," DeLay said.
The Marriage Protection Act specifically would prevent federal judges from striking down the provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that protects states from having to recognize homosexual marriage licenses granted in other states.
"This is the position many Democrats say they support: all 50 states deciding for themselves how to define marriage rather than a one-size-fits-all definition being imposed on them from above," DeLay said. "If you support the states and respect the will of the American people, you must support this bill."
