FORT DODGE, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Friday called same-sex marriage “a temporary aberration that will dissipate.”
During a campaign question and answer session, the former U.S. House Speaker — responding to a question from the audience regarding same-sex marriage — said, “I believe that marriage is between a man and woman. It has been for all of recorded history and I think this is a temporary aberration that will dissipate. I think that it is just fundamentally goes against everything we know.”
One Iowa, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group, called Gingrich’s statements offense and disrespectful to thousands of gay and lesbian Iowans who are loved by families who belong to all political parties and play active and productive roles within the state’s communities, reported the Des Moines Register.
“Mr. Gingrich’s comments are out-of-touch with Iowans and I don’t think that he is the right person to be lecturing Iowans, or anyone, about loving, committed marriages,” said Troy Price of One Iowa.
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This is not the first time the former speaker has made negative statements on the issue of marriage equality.
In June, when New York became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, Gingrich condemned the law, and said, “I think we are drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of.”
Gingrich has been married three times; the first two marriages ended in divorce after he committed adultery with women who would become his second and third wives.
A September USA Today/Gallup national poll showed Gingrich with only 5 percent of the likely GOP primary vote.
