Newt Gingrich continues his shift on
gay marriage, saying Republicans need to wake up to reality.
Appearing on Fox News, Gingrich, the
former House Speaker and a leading candidate for the 2012 GOP
presidential nomination, said he did not regret voting for the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) but added that it was time to accept
the reality of the inevitability of marriage equality.
“As a matter of practical reality, we
[Conservatives] have to deal with the objective fact that nine states
have adopted a rule which is now going to make life more complicated.
Again, in my personal views, in my beliefs, I don't back up an inch
from the core belief of the Bible and the core belief of my church
that marriage is between a man and a woman. But I am trying to
understand how are we going to cope with the complexity that this
fact has now entered into our life.”
“I think this is a very complicated
human problem and Republicans need to take a deep breath and
understand we need to deal with the human side of this equation –
and understand that we want to defend marriage in its classic form
between a man and a woman. I don’t accept that there's an
alternative. The government can declare that a Ford truck is Air
Force One. That doesn't mean it can fly.”
“We've got to learn to do it [defend
religious liberty] much, much better. I watched us get out
maneuvered by the Left over and over for the last couple of years in
ways that I found frustrating and infuriating. And I think we have
to learn from that.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
(Related: Newt
Gingrich's marriage shift called “stupid” by NOM's Frank
Schubert.)