Newt Gingrich, GOP candidate for
president, told a crowd in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Friday that gay
marriage is a “temporary aberration,” the Des
Moines Register first reported.
In response to a question from the
audience, the former House Speaker said: “I believe that marriage
is between a man and a 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.”
Gingrich made his comments during an
event he held at a Best Western hotel conference room.
The Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay
marriage with a unanimous decision in 2009.
Troy Price of One Iowa, the state's
largest gay rights group, condemned the remarks.
“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,” Price told the paper.
Media watchdog ThinkProgress.org's
Tanya Somanader expanded on Price's comments.
“Given his own marital history,
Gingrich's belief in the solvent nature of same-sex marriage is
mildly amusing,” she said, referring to the former lawmaker's three
marriages.
(Related: Newt
Gingrich suggests gay marriage to blame for economic woes.)