Newt Gingrich on Marriage

(Click here if you're having trouble viewing the video. Hat tip to Freak Out Nation.)

In a recent interview with ABC News, Newt Gingrich's ex-wife Marianne Gingrich alleged that he wanted an "open marriage" so that he could continue to have an affair. With Gingrich in the spotlight after these allegations and his recent win in the South Carolina primary, let's look back on what he has to say about marriage. This thrice-married man has a lot to say about the sanctity of marriage and the illegitimacy of same-sex marriage!

On January 7, 2012, Newt Gingrich had this to say about same-sex marriage during the ABC/WMUR Presidential Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"We want to make it possible to have those things that are most intimately human between friend occur. For example, you're in a hospital. If there are visitation hours, should you be allowed to stay? There ought to be ways to designate that. You want to have somebody in your will. There ought to be ways to designate that. But it is a huge jump from being understanding and considerate and concerned, which we should be, to saying we're therefore going to institute the sacrament of marriage as though it has no basis. The sacrament of marriage was based on a man and a woman, has been for three-thousand years, is at the core of our civilization, and it's something worth protecting and upholding. And I think protecting and upholding that doesn't mean you have to go out and make life miserable for others, but it does mean you make a distinction between a historic sacrament of enormous importance in our civilization, and simply deciding it applies everywhere and it's just a civil right. It's not. It is a part of how we define ourselves, and I think that a marriage between a man and a woman is part of that definition."

In September 2011, Gingrich had this to say about marriage in Fort Dodge, Iowa, according to ABC News.

“I believe that marriage is between a man and woman. It has been for all of recorded history and I think [same-sex marriage] is a temporary aberration that will dissipate. I think that it is just fundamentally goes against everything we know.”

In a December 2011 letter to the Family Leader, Gingrich pledged to support legislation against same-sex marriage, as well as personal fidelity to his spouse. (See www[dot]thefamilyleader[dot]com/former-speaker-newt-gingrich-provides-written-response-to-the-family-leaders-marriage-pledge)

"I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman ... I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others."

Need a chuckle after all this political talk? I do. On November 19, 2011, Gingrich made this comment about values at the Thanksgiving Family Forum in Des Moines, Iowa.

"I don't think liberty means libertine. I don't think liberty means absence of values. None of the Founding Fathers thought liberty meant that."

Forgive me if this rhetoric strikes me as hollow at this point. Whether or not Marianne Gingrich's allegations are true, I remain unmoved by Newt Gingrich's rhetoric about the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, and offended by his dismissal of same-sex marriage. People need to exhibit values before they criticize the values of others.


For additional commentary, visit the following links.

A Feather Adrift: How Many Feet Can You Fit in One Mouth?

Snoring Dog Studio: Hypocrisy and Self-Righteous Indignation Don’t Mix, Newt

Talk to Action: Eight Reasons Newt Gingrich is Emerging as the Religious Right's Anybody-but-Mitt Candidate

The New Yorker: Newt and His Wives

CNN: Why Gingrich 'open marriage' allegation may not scare off evangelicals