US: The tension at the centre of the Republican party generated by the issue of gay marriage rights has been brought to the surface, days before the party's national convention, by Vice-President Dick Cheney declaring that the decision should be left to individual states.
This conflicts with President Bush's backing for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and with the position likely to be taken by the convention.
At a campaign meeting in Iowa on Tuesday, Mr Cheney acknowledged in public for the first time that one of his daughters is gay.
"Lynne and I have a gay daughter," he said when asked by a member of the audience what he felt "in his heart" about the issue of same-sex marriage. "So it's an issue that our family is very familiar with."
He added: "With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People ... ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.
"The question ... is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government. Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made the fundamental decision in terms of defining what constitutes a marriage."
His view differs from the position likely to be adopted at the convention, where gay marriage, abortion rights and stem-cell research are emerging as the issues that will define whether the party appeals to its conservative base or attempts to be more sympathetic to its moderate factions.
"President Bush must be feeling the heat," said Ms Cheryl Jacques of the gay rights organisation Human Rights Campaign. "Millions of Republican families, like the Cheneys, have gay friends and family members and are offended by President Bush's efforts to put discrimination in the constitution."
But Mr Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said: "I find it hard to believe that the vice-president would stray from the administration's position on defence policy or tax policy.