Washington, D.C. — Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently told reporters with the Huffington Post that he believes the Republican Party needs to learn how to “accommodate and deal with [the] reality” of same-sex “marriage.”
According to a recent article by the publication, while Gingrich still personally believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, he feels that homosexual unions are inevitable in America, and therefore, Republicans must adjust to what is coming.
“I think that this will be much more difficult than immigration for conservatism to come to grips with,” he explained. “It is in every family. It is in every community. The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to … accommodate and deal with reality.”
“And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states — and it will be more after 2014 — gay relationships will be legal, period,” Gingrich continued.
He opined that Republicans can somehow find a way to allow same-sex relationships while not intertwining it with religion. Gingrich was raised in evangelical Christianity, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 2009 — the faith of his third wife.
“Gingrich argued that Republicans could no longer close their eyes to the course of public opinion,” the Huffington Post outlined. “[Gingrich] suggested that the party (and he himself) could accept a distinction between a ‘marriage in a church from a legal document issued by the state’ — the latter being acceptable.”
The publication also noted that the former presidential candidate has “personal stake” in the issue of homosexual “marriage,” as his half sister works with the Human Rights Campaign, a national organization that lobbies for homosexual rights. He also has male friends who have reportedly tied the knot.
“I didn’t think that was inevitable 10 or 15 years ago when we passed the Defense of Marriage Act,” Gingrich stated. “It didn’t seem at the time to be anything like as big a wave of change as we are now seeing.”
However, in January of this year while he was running for president, Gingrich had vowed to protect marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act. He was supported by many evangelicals during the primaries for his belief in upholding Biblical marriage.
“As president, I will vigorously enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions, especially in the military. I will also aggressively defend the constitutionality of DOMA in federal and state courts,” he said. “I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification.”
“I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman,” Gingrich continued. “I will support all efforts to reform promptly any uneconomic or anti-marriage aspects of welfare and tax policy. I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.”
Gingrich had also vocally opposed homosexual behavior during this time, comparing it to paganism.
“It’s pretty simple: marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a historic doctrine driven deep into the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it’s a perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism,” he said. “The effort to create alternatives to marriage between a man and a woman are perfectly natural pagan behaviors, but they are a fundamental violation of our civilization.”
Gingrich has been married three times, and has admitted to having affairs while married. He began an affair in 1993 with his current wife Callista Bisek, a staffer at the House of Representatives, while still married to his wife Marianne Ginther. Gingrich and Ginther divorced in 2000, and Gingrich married Bisek.
Photo: Gage Skidmore
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