Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt
Gingrich are being called on to repudiate a pledge from the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM) each signed promising to work against
gay marriage.
The GOP presidential candidates signed
the group's 5-point pledge last summer.
Rival Fred Karger on Thursday called on
his colleagues to drop NOM's pledge in light of recent revelations
against the group, primarily that it plotted
a strategy to pit minorities against gay marriage supporters.
“Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt
Gingrich – you should immediately disavow the National Organization
for Marriage's pledge that each of you signed,” Karger told a crowd
during a speech at Towson University in Maryland. “We now have the
proof that NOM is an unethical and deceitful operation.”
NOM has previous gone after Texas Rep.
Ron Paul for not signing its pledge, which asks signers to support a
federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, defend the
Defense of Marriage of Act (DOMA) in court, appoint judges and an
attorney general who will “respect the original meaning of the
Constitution,” appoint a presidential commission to investigate the
“harassment of traditional marriage supporters,” and back
legislation that would allow a ballot question on the issue for
voters of the District of Columbia.
(Related: Antonio
Villaraigosa, Vincent Gray speak out against gay marriage foe NOM's
race-baiting.)