Presidential hopefuls Donald Trump,
Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty are reminding Iowans
that they oppose gay rights.
In various venues, potential 2012 GOP
candidates aimed their pitches directly at social conservatives in
Iowa.
Five of the potential candidates
attended a Monday forum hosted by The Iowa Faith and Freedom
Coalition, a group that opposes gay rights, in the Des Moines suburb
of Waukee.
Former Minnesota Governor Pawlenty told
the crowd that “We need to be a nation that turns toward God.”
In a Fox News interview broadcast on Monday, Pawlenty
told Greta Van Susteren that he'll always oppose gay marriage.
Also attending the forum were former
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich, former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain and former
Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer.
Gingrich
also told Susteren that he objects to gay marriage.
“Well, I'm very strongly in support
of marriage being between a man and a woman, which is what it has
historically always been,” the Republican said. “And I – but
beyond that, I'm very strongly opposed to courts on many topics …
we've been in a cycle where judges decide they will rewrite the
constitution based on their whim. I think that's wrong. I think
it's constitutionally wrong.”
“And I think that it represents an
abuse of power by judges. And Iowa was an opportunity to start
sending a signal that we need a national debate,” he added, referring
to voters' recent decision to remove three Iowa justices from the
Supreme Court over its 2009 decision that brought gay marriage to the
Midwest.
Billionaire
celebrity and real estate mogul Trump stirred controversy when he
told the Des Moines Register that he is opposed to all forms
of legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples. Trump recently
said he'll soon stump in Iowa.
In
an op-ed published Monday in the Des Moines Register,
Santorum blasted President Barack Obama for his decision to no longer
defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bans federal
agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian
couples.
“Intellectually, morally and
constitutionally President Obama's claim is absurd. And it is a
dagger aimed at the heart of a core constitutional value: the free
exercise of religion.”