US Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah says he believes civil unions - not same-sex marriages - are the answer to the marriage equality debate.

'I do believe this could be solved greatly by a civil-union law that would give gay people the same rights as married people,' Hatch said in an interview with radio station KVNU in Utah. 'I think we can solve this problem without undermining the very basis of marital law in our country.'

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who said this week that the issue of marriage equality should be left up to individual states, is getting some flak for breaking from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the issue.

Romney has pledged support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage but Hatch told SiriusXM's Michelangelo Signorile at the Republican National Convention this week that he's 'a believer that the states should be able to make their own determination.'