Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will
headline a Log Cabin Republicans event next month.
According to its website, Log Cabin
Republicans “is the nation's original and largest organization
representing gay conservatives and allies who support fairness,
freedom and equality for all Americans.”
Gingrich will be the headline speaker
at the group's 2016 Spirit of Lincoln event taking place on
Wednesday, September 28 at the Grand Hyatt hotel in the District of
Columbia.
Gingrich, who was in the running to be
Donald Trump's GOP running mate, has a long history of opposition to
LGBT rights. In late 2012, Gingrich called for a GOP reality check on
marriage equality, but fell short of offering an endorsement of such
unions.
“The momentum is clearly now in the
direction in finding some way to … accommodate and deal with
reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American
states – and it will be more after 2014 – gay relationships will
be legal, period,” he told The Huffington Post.
But it was under
Gingrich's leadership that the House approved the Defense of Marriage
Act (DOMA), a law which prohibited federal agencies from recognizing
the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The Supreme Court
struck down DOMA in 2013. The ruling is widely credited with opening
the door to nationwide marriage equality two years later.
During his 2012
presidential run, Gingrich supported a constitutional amendment which
would prohibit same-sex marriage nationwide.
“I
think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants
to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, is
prepared to use harassment,” the thrice-married Gingrich said
during a 2008
Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly. “I think it is a very
dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional marriage.”