Several gay activists have criticized Senator John McCain for saying that he opposed gay adoption. This compelled McCain campaign to issue a clarification, on Tuesday, saying that he believed the issue should be decided by the states, and that such adoptions should not be subject to a federal ban.

McCain has been facing problems in trying to appease the conservatives and attract moderates and independents this election year.

In an interview late last week with the New York Times, McCain said that he opposed gay adoption, adding that “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family, so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.” While this statement incited furor in the gay activists and liberals, it was favored by a larger group social conservatives that McCain needs to energize for November.

“John McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue,” Tucker Bounds, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “He was not endorsing any federal legislation.”

“Senator McCain’s expressed his personal preference for children to be raised by a mother and a father wherever possible,” Mr. Bounds said in the statement. But the statement added, “He recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes. John McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative.”