The long-distance debate over gay marriage within the Gingrich family

Last Monday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. O'Reilly showed video footage from California, of protests after passage of a referendum to revoke court approval of gay marriage in that state.

The focus was on an elderly woman who had a large cross stripped from her hands after she apparently waded into a crowd of demonstrators.

Said the former Georgia congressman:

"I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, is prepared to use harassment.

"I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion.

"And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact — for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that that are antithetical, that are the opposite."

Over the weekend, Gingrich's lesbian half-sister, Candace Gingrich, pubished an open letter to her big brother on Huffington Post:

This is a movement of the people that you most fear. It's a movement of progress — and your words on Fox News only show how truly desperate you are to maintain control of a world that is changing before your very eyes.


Then again, we've seen these tactics before. We know how much the right likes to play political and cultural hardball, and then turn around and accuse us of lashing out first. You give a pass to a religious group — one that looks down upon minorities and women — when they use their money and membership roles to roll back the rights of others, and then you label us "fascists" when we fight back.

You belittle the relationships of gay and lesbian couples, and yet somehow neglect to explain who anointed you the protector of "traditional" marriage.

The holidays can be such a tense time among families.

 

The long-distance debate over gay marriage within the Gingrich family
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA