Gay GOP group GOProud on Wednesday
endorsed former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson for the U.S. Senate
over Rep. Tammy Baldwin.
The 50-year-old Baldwin would become
the first openly gay U.S. senator if she captures the seat being
vacated by Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl.
Last week, voters decided on Thompson
as her Republican rival.
“Tommy Thompson is a common-sense
conservative who will focus on creating jobs and growing the economy
for all Wisconsin,” Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud,
said in a statement. “Governor Thompson's experience and
leadership uniquely qualify him to serve in the U.S. Senate.”
The group noted that Thompson opposes a
federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But the GOP
candidate remains opposed to legalizing gay nuptials and has
previously voiced support for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Thompson's record on gay rights also
includes him saying in 2008 that he believes businesses should have
the right to fire gay employees. The next day during an appearance
on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he profusely denied he
believes in discrimination in the workplace based on sexual
orientation, explaining that he was not feeling well and did not
answer the question correctly.
GOProud's Christopher R. Barron knocked
Baldwin as being a “rubber stamp for the disastrous big government
policies of the far left.”
(Related: Tammy
Baldwin endorsed by lesbian super PAC.)