The Sioux City Journal:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich pledged Thursday to push for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The former U.S. House speaker was asked about the volatile issue at a campaign stop just hours before the GOP presidential debate here. Gingrich said amending the Constitution to define marriage as between man and woman would resolve legal conflicts created by judicial rulings and a patchwork of state laws.

Iowa, site of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, is among several states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Gingrich questioned whether those unions would be recognized if they moved to states with traditional marriage laws.

"We as a country have to sort this out, because we can't have 50 sets of rules," Gingrich told an audience of about 40 people at Luciano's restaurant, a few blocks from site of Thursday night's debate at the Sioux City Convention Center.

His comments came on the same day the National Organization for Marriage said Gingrich signed its anti-gay marriage pledge, which calls on candidates to advocate for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and to appoint a commission to investigate claims of supposed harassment against individuals who oppose marriage equality.