Newt Gingrich, the dirty birdy

I got this from Andy Towle who got it from Think Progress LGBT.  I need to take a bath.

Let's just breathe for a second and remember these things:  Gingrich has been married three times:

• Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26.

• In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after having an affair with Marianne Ginther.  According to Battley, Gingrich and their children visited her while she was in the hospital, recovering from surgery for cancer, and Gingrich wanted to discuss the terms of their divorce.  Six months after the divorce from Battley was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther in 1981.

• In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior. They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his alleged affairs.

• In 2000, Gingrich married Bisek shortly after his divorce from second wife Ginther.

This is all within his definition of the SANCTITY of the SACRED institution of marriage.  Okay.

Below is the video of his meeting with the Des Moines Register’s editorial board during which he says things that make my head explode:

Q: Do you believe that people choose to be gay?

GINGRICH: I believe it’s a combination of genetics and environment....

REHLEH ?!?! doesn't he have a gay SISTER?   Does that mean that he dodged this particular genetic propensity? since the environment in which he grew contributed to his sister's "LIFESTYLE"?  (OHMUHGUH ! how i HATE that word ! ! Bodybuilding is a lifestyle.  Training for a MARATHON is a lifestyle.  The fact that I think about women's anatomy about the same as Newt thinks about men's anatomy is not a CHOICE, EITHER ... ech.)  Let's continue with these delusions:

GINGRICH (con't): ...I think both are involved. I think people have many ranges of choices. Part of the question is, do you want a society which has a bias in one direction or another?

Q: So people can then choose one way or another?

GINGRICH: I think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern. I don’t believe in genetic determinism and I don’t think there is any great evidence of genetic determinism. There are propensities. Are you more likely to do this or more likely to do that? But that doesn’t mean it’s definitional.

Q: So a person can then choose to be straight?

GINGRICH: Look, people choose to be celibate. People choose many things in life. You know, there is a bias in favor of non-celibacy. It’s part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy as a religious vocation or for other reasons.

oh brother.  but wait! BEFORE this happened, THIS happened when asked about Gay Rights being similar to the 60s and rights based on race:

GINGRICH: ...I think there is an enormous difference between an inescapable fact of race and you have to decide whether or not you in fact you are going to tolerate discrimination based on race and a question about culture, a question about what are your values ...

um ... I scream this to the mountaintops:  WHAT is a more TRADITIONAL value then ME wanting to marry my husband.  WHAT would be a more traditional value than us as GOD-FEARING people being blessed in that union within the confines of our Episcopal Church.  What is more traditional than the beautiful same-sex couples in our congregation who celebrate God's beauty by bringing children in to the midst of their unions.  And guess what ... I can only think of one married same-sex couple in our church within the last 10 years who has divorced.  And they were both healthy at the time ... tee hee.

GINGRICH (con't): ...I think marriage is between a man and a woman, that is a value proposition. ...

hmm...actually that is a RELIGIOUS proposition.   It is not a moral proposition and the only VALUE that proposition has is within the confines of a religious context.  And he keeps using the phrase "value system" when he really means "religious constraints" ... and by "religion" I mean something we can do to earn God's favor versus God's complete and total love of us exactly where each of us is, as God was the one who created us exactly as we are.

GINGRICH (con't):  ...I think people growing up in a structure in which children have parents that they look up to and parents that they relate to is a very important thing...

 um ... me too ... but I'd like to point out to him that his sister and, I would venture to say, every single homosexual I know was raised by opposite-sex parents.  and ... scene.  but let's continue ...

GINGRICH, referencing a question about miscegenation): ...Look ...

Have you ever noticed how men, especially Republican men, always say "Look..." when they're making a point?  It drives me insane.  Watch for it now that you realise it ...

GINGRICH, referencing a question about miscegenation): ...Look, you can always make parallels if you want to. I don't accept that parallel. I think that it is fairly ludicrous.  Nobody is suggesting that we have legal segregation of gays.  Nobody is suggesting  they not be allowed to use the bathroom, they not be allowed to drink at the water fountain.  Segregation was a horrible thing...

 ya think?

GINGRICH:  I am defending a 3,000 year tradition...

uh, yeah ... slavery was pretty popular for a long time too ... just because it's a tradition doesn't make it healthy, correct or Divinely inspired ...

GINGRICH: ...that's very deep in our culture for very profound reasons...marriage being the central building block of society...

I guess that's why he keeps practicing it.

It's funny that this video came out on the same day.  It gives me SUCH joy (and also makes me know why they call us gay lol).  It's two Dads finding out they're going to be GRANpas!:



Before you watch the Gingrich thing, Let us pray:

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer