Former GOP presidential candidate Newt
Gingrich believes the debate over gay rights is “one-sided” and
against the Catholic church.
Gingrich made his remarks during an NBC
Meet the Press panel on Sunday.
After discussing the recent coming out
of NBA free agent Jason Collins, host David Gregory asked his panel
about the gay rights movement.
Gregory turned to Gingrich to ask
whether a Republican presidential nominee could support gay marriage.
“I doubt it,” Gingrich answered,
then added: “But what I'm stuck with is the one-sidedness of the
desire for rights. There are no rights for Catholics to have
adoption services in Massachusetts. They're outlawed. There are no
rights in DC for Catholics to have adoption service. They're
outlawed.”
“This passing reference to religion,
we sort of respect religion – sure, as long as you don't practice
it,” he continued. “I mean I think it would be good to have a
debate over, you know, beyond this question of, 'Are you able to be
gay in America?' What does it mean? Does it mean that you have to
actually affirmatively eliminate any institution which does not
automatically accept that, and therefore, you're now going to have a
secular state say to a wide range of religious groups – Catholics,
Protestants, orthodox Jews, Mormons, frankly, Muslims – 'You cannot
practice your religion the way you believe it, and we will outlaw
your institutions.'”
“What prohibitions are you speaking
of?” Gregory asked.
“Well, let's just start with adoption
services,” he answered. “It's impossible for the Catholic Church
to have an adoption service in Massachusetts that follows Catholic
doctrine.”
Joy-Ann Reid, managing editor of
TheGrio.com, noted that Catholic Charities in Boston “affirmatively
decided to withdraw adoption services.”
“No one said they are not allowed to
provide adoption services,” Reid said.
“No, they withdrew them because they
were told, 'You could not follow Catholic doctrine,' which is for
marriage between a man and a woman.”
(Watch the entire segment at Meet
the Press.)