Nevada Senator Harry Reid's Republican
opponent Sharron Angle opposes gay adoption.
The Associated Press has
obtained a four-page questionnaire filled out by Angle for the
Washington-based group Government is not God, which has endorsed
Angle's candidacy.
Among her answers to 36 yes-or-no
questions, Angle said she opposes protections based on sexual
orientation and gay adoption. She also believes clergy should be
allowed to campaign from the pulpit on behalf of political
candidates, which is currently banned by the federal government.
Angle said she believes children should
have a relationship with their mother and father.
On her campaign website, Angle boasts
about her anti-gay marriage record: “Sharron worked to pass the
Constitutional Protection of Marriage Act in Nevada, which defines
marriage as between one man and one woman.”
The Nevada Senate hopeful is married to
Ted Angle. The couple has two children and ten grandchildren. She
has made her Southern Baptist faith a prominent issue in her
campaign.
On its website, Government is not God
has also endorsed Senate candidates J.D. Hayworth in Arizona, Carly
Fiorina in California, Marco Rubio in Florida, and Jim DeMint in
South Carolina, all Republicans who oppose gay marriage.
Reid, as the Senate majority leader, is
the most powerful member of the chamber.
Nevada voters have increasingly labeled
Reid as too liberal for his support of Obama's policies. Forty-eight
percent of the state's voters have a “very unfavorable” view of
Reid and sixty-two percent describe him as a liberal, according to
the latest Rasmussen poll.
Gay rights are playing an increasing
role in the senator's re-election campaign.
Gay
rights group GetEQUAL has targeted Reid for protests for his wobbly
support of the federal gay workplace protections bill ENDA
(Employment Non-Discrimination Act).
Reid is also under pressure from gay
rights groups to bring a vote to the Senate floor on a controversial
measure that would repeal “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the 1993 law
that bans open gay military service. House members approved a
similar measure in May, but Senate Democrats in tight races would
prefer to debate the issue after the upcoming midterm elections
because Republicans, led by Arizona Senator John McCain, have
promised to fight to keep the prohibition in place. Reid, who most
likely would be considered among those Democrats, has said he'll
bring the bill to the floor in September.
The issue of adoption has also cropped
up in the Georgia gubernatorial campaign of Karen
Handel, who says she would sign a bill that bans gay and lesbian
couples from adopting children. Currently, only Florida
has an outright ban on such adoptions.