Media outlets projected Gingrich would win the primary immediately upon close of the polls at 7 pm.

Update: With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Gingrich had a wide lead with 40.3 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was in second with 27.9 percent.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was in third place with 17 percent of the vote. Coming in fourth was Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) with 13 percent.

In his speech following the results, Santorum said his campaign was about importance of families, marriage and “mothers and fathers.” The candidate has been vocal about his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Earlier this week, Romney was polling ahead of other Republicans in the Palmetto State by double-digits and observers predicted he’d win the primary. But polls on Friday began showing Gingrich was ahead, leading to the win for the candidate.

Chris Barron, chief strategist for the gay conservative group GOProud, congratulated Gingrich and attributed his win to the candidate steering clear of negative attacks on Romney’s business career.

“It is clear that Speaker Gingrich’s poll numbers improved dramatically once he ended his unnecessary and unproductive attacks on Governor Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital,” Barron said. “As conservatives we should make it clear that we are the champions of free enterprise.”

Gingrich won the primary after Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race Thursday and threw his support behind the former U.S. House speaker. Perry was only polling in the single digits in South Carolina, but the shifted support from Perry to Gingrich likely contributed to the outcome of the contest.

The Gingrich win is likely troubling for Romney, who earlier this week was seen as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. That mantle was taken from him after a recount of the Iowa caucus revealed this week that Santorum had actually won there by 34 votes.

Still, Gingrich faces obstacles to clamping down the Republican nomination, including his admitted marital infidelities.

Earlier this week, Marianne Gingrich, the candidate’s second wife, said during an ABC News interview Gingrich wanted an open relationship during the marriage. The candidate later divorced her and married his current and third wife, Callista Gingrich, with whom he was having affair while in his second marriage.

Additionally, although Gingrich has been seen as an alternative to the more moderate Romney, socially conservative, evangelical leaders threw their support behind Santorum during a meeting in Texas last week.

Romney also continues to lead in the national polls. A Gallup poll published Friday gave him a 10-point lead over Gingrich. However, the lead Romney enjoys has been diminished from the standing he enjoyed earlier this week, when he had a 23-point lead over both Gingrich and Santorum.

Christine Johnson, executive director of South Carolina Equality, said, in an emailed statement, the "South Carolina license plate policy allows a broad expression of diverse opinion and organizational support."

"We have collaborated with the DMV to create a license plate we hope will appeal not just members of the LGBT community, but their families, friends and allies," she wrote.

The license plate, which will be available for purchase to the public later this month, was created as a way of "allowing residents of South Carolina to publicly display their support of community, culture and policy that encourages and advocates for equal treatment for all South Carolinians, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," according to Johnson's e-mail.

The SC Equality specialty plates will cost South Carolina residents one of the lowest specialty license plate fees in the state ($25.00),in addition to regular registration or renewal fees.

SC Equality Board Chair, Dean Pierce said, “South Carolina is now a national leader in securing a pro-equality license plate. We wish LGBT equality supporters in every state could take advantage the public advocacy opportunity our great state has provided to South Carolina Equality”.

Despite the pro-equality plate, an August 2011 Public Policy Polling survey found that only 21 percent of South Carolina voters thought that same-sex marriage should be legal, while 69 percent thought it should be illegal. A separate question on the same survey found that 48 percent of South Carolina voters supported some legal recognition of same-sex couples.

In 2006, South Carolina voters adopted South Carolina Amendment 1 by 78 percent, that amended the constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions in the U.S. state.

SC Equality announced that it is hosting three license plate launching events in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville, Friday, Jan. 20, for the statewide debut of the license plate.

"With staples in his head, stitches on his arm, and bandages on his face, Vonte Fuller has constant reminders of the hate he says he experienced this weekend," reported WSPA-TV. Watch:

Fuller, 22, said he feels the attack was a hate crime, although no such laws exist in South Carolina.

Last month, another South Carolina gay man -- Joshua Esskew, 19 -- was attacked outside a convenience store in Rock Hill, S.C., when a man shouted a gay slur at him. When Esskew walked away, that man hit him with a beer bottle in the back of the head. The attack was caught on surveillance video.

Joshua Esskew

Officials in South Carolina have charged five men with the attack on a gay teen who was assaulted outside a convenience store in Rock Hill on April 9.

Joshua Esskew, 19, said he was walking into the store when a man shouted a gay slur at him. When Esskew walked away, that man hit him with a beer bottle in the back of the head.

All five are charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, a felony that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

From left: Bobby Wilson, Darenco Wilmore, LaJames Mitchell, Lortarius Duncan, and Cortezio Douglas

The five men could face additional charges, as the FBI has been investigating the assault as a possible hate crime. Sheriff Bruce Bryant said Friday that the FBI is turning over its findings to the U.S. Justice Department, the Charlotte Observer reported.

All five suspects are from York, S.C. Charged in the case were: Cortezio Laquise Douglas, 21; Lortarius Anthony Duncan, 22; LaJames Mitchell, 22; Darenco Markie Wilmore, 21; and Bobby Wilson, 20.

"The suspects in this crime have been identified and are being brought to justice due to cooperation between law enforcement and the willingness of the public to get involved and not let this violent crime go unpunished," said York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant.

Tips from the public after the release of surveillance video of the attack helped authorities identify the suspects.

John King

State Rep. John King (D-Rock Hill), the sponsor of a hate crime bill that last year stalled in the General Assembly, said he plans to reintroduce the bill next week and ask that it be discussed immediately by legislators.

On April 9, Joshua Esskew, 19, who is gay, was assaulted outside a Rock Hill convenience store.

Esskew said he was walking into the store when a man shouted a gay slur at him; when Esskew walked away, that man hit him with a beer bottle in the back of the head.

WCNC-TV reports:

Even if Esskew was attacked because he's gay, the state of South Carolina can't charge anyone with that crime because the state doesn't have a hate crime law.

King tried to get the law passed last year, but it went nowhere.

"Anytime there's hate towards anyone -- sad situation. It made me realize the bill I introduced a year ago is needed here in South Carolina," said King, who plans to reintroduce the bill. "We do have people who hate other people because of race or sexual orientation or maybe their religion."

The FBI on Monday confirmed it is investigating the brutal attack.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, enacted in 2009, gives federal authorities power to investigate allegations of crimes against gays.

Joshua Esskew

The FBI on Monday confirmed it is investigating the brutal attack on a South Carolina gay teen who was assaulted outside a convenience store in Rock Hill on April 9.

Joshua Esskew, 19, who is gay, said he was walking into the store when a man shouted a gay slur at him. When Esskew walked away, that man hit him with a beer bottle in the back of the head.

The federal involvement in the probe of the potential hate crime comes as local law enforcement continues to investigate the attack as an assault.

“We’re all over it,” said special agent Earl Burns, a spokesman for the Columbia office of the FBI. “Matters of this sort -- hate, civil rights -- are one of our highest priorities in the bureau."

“What we’re trying to do now is determine the extent of FBI involvement.”

Esskew said as many as eight men came running from different directions and beat him, in what he described as a "hate crime."

South Carolina has no “hate crime” laws, but the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, enacted in 2009, gives federal authorities power to investigate allegations of crimes against gays that could potentially be civil rights violations.

Joshua Esskew

Authorities in Rock Hill, S.C., are are looking for suspects who assaulted a gay teen outside a Rock Hill convenience store last weekend in what the victim describes as a hate crime.

Joshua Esskew, 19, who is gay, said he was walking into the store when a man shouted a gay slur at home. When Esskew walked away, that man hit him with a beer bottle in the back of the head.

Esskew tried to fight back, but more men -- as many as eight -- came running from different directions and beat him.

"Some ran from the gas pumps, some ran from the laundry mats, some were just standing over there and just joined," Esskew said. "What instigated this and what started this was my sexuality, me just being me."

Police found Esskew on the ground bleeding from the top of his head and mouth, and his eye and lips were swollen. The York County Sheriff's Office has released this surveillance video of the attack.

South Carolina has no "hate crime" laws, but the federal government does. Deputies said they have to catch the suspects and investigate further before escalating it to the federal level.

Update, 4/18/11: The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the attack on Joshua Esskew. Story here.

Sen. Jim DeMint

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), an emerging Tea Party hero, told a crowd of supporters in South Carolina Friday that he will continue to recruit like-minded Conservatives across the nation to run for Congress and pastors to join the fight to “take our country back.”

Among DeMint's position, openly gay teachers should not be allowed to teach in public schools, and that unwed mothers were unfit to stand in front of a classroom.

DeMint received overwhelming applause when he told the crowd of a few hundred people that he's an outcast in Washington.

He said he's disliked in the Capitol, but when he gets off planes across the country, people stop and tell him they're praying for him. [Spartanburg Herald Journal]

"Sexist bigots like Sen. Jim DeMint don't belong in the United States Congress," said Terry O'Neill, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW). "He thinks gay women and men and sexually active single women should be banned from teaching, but he said nothing about sexually active, single straight men."

DeMint has been most outspoken as an opponent of any form of gay marriage, calling it a "religious institution" that the "federal government has no business redefining."

"It would be bothersome to me just personally because I consider it immoral," DeMint said.

The South Carolina Republican, who has become the face of the Republican purity movement, goes right on everything, from the economy and health care to immigration and hot-button social issues such as gay rights.

Says Bloomberg: He’s a favorite of the grassroots “tea party” brigade and Fox News. His growing cult is such that party insiders even talk about him as a potential presidential candidate.

DeMint has been most outspoken as an opponent of any form of gay marriage.

“Marriage is a religious institution. The federal government has no business redefining what it is,” he says.

This is one issue where DeMint doesn’t support states’ rights, saying state government shouldn’t have the right to permit gay marriage.

“Governments should not be in the business of promoting a behavior that’s proven to be destructive to our society," he said.

This is not the first time DeMint has spoken out against gays, in fact his homophobia dates back at least to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign when he was quoted as saying openly gay teachers should not be allowed in public schools, and that unwed mothers were unfit to stand in front of a classroom.

Read the full story at Bloomberg.