In a debate on Monday, major candidates running to lead the Republican National Committee through 2012 pledged to push back against progress toward LGBT equality.
According to Talking Points Memo, basically all of the candidates for the position of RNC chair expressed alarm over the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and insinuated that support for marriage equality, in their view, has no viable standing in the GOP.
“As a party […] we have said very clearly that we support [the limitation of marriage to straight couples]. And I think that is a very good spot for the party to be in,” said current RNC Chair Michael Steele.
The largely unpopular Steele is widely expected to fail in his efforts to retain his title, and many predict his successor could turn out to be Wisconsin GOP chair Reince Priebus, who had this to say about gay people’s right to marry: “I don’t believe that judges can rewrite the Constitution and redraft what marriage is. I think there is a sanctity of marriage.”
Ann Wagner, the former Bush administration Ambassador to Luxembourg and a past chair of the Missouri Republican Party, informed the crowd of her stance against marriage equality and later stated her opposition to DADT’s repeal. Former Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis also mentioned his discomfort with same-sex nuptials.
Talking Points Memo pointed out that all the candidates suggested – despite widespread polling results’ continual reflection of the nation’s increasing acceptance of LGBT equality – that their anti-gay views fall in line with those of “the mainstream” and the Republican party.
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