White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is unsure whether President Barack Obama opposes repeal of New Hampshire's gay marriage law.

Republican lawmakers have said they will consider state Rep. David Bates' bill that would make New Hampshire the first state to legislatively overturn a gay marriage law soon after the January 10 presidential primary.

Bates' bill would replace the law with civil unions for any unmarried adults, including relatives, and would allow anyone to refuse to recognize such unions.

Approximately 2,000 gay and lesbian couples have married since the law took effect.

When asked about the upcoming vote by Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade, Carney answered that he had not spoken with the president about the issue.

“Chris, I honestly haven't spoken to him about that state issue, so I would have to take the question and see if there's anything I can get back to you,” Carney said.

“The president has said that he – states should decide how to best address the marriage issue themselves. If the legislature decides to repeal that marriage law will he support that decision?”

“Again, that's an 'if-if' question and I haven't had the conversation with him or with any of the senior staff about it. So let me take that and see if we can get a response to you,” Carney replied. (Video of the exchange is embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)