GOP Nominates Anti-Gay Pastor E.W. Jackson for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia

Anti-gay Pastor E.W. Jackson joined Ken Cuccinelli and Attorney General nominee Mark Obenshain on the Virginia Republican ticket over the weekend.

Jackson told the Washington Post that he has never been hateful about homosexuality:

“I think people always try to put that in the context of being hateful and it’s not,” he said. “It’s a particular worldview that every Christian for the most part who goes to church across this commonwealth shares: that marriage should be between one man and one woman. And anything else is an attempt to redefine an institution that really can’t be redefined. But I also like to let gay folks know that that same religious faith requires that you care about everybody, regardless. . . . It’s about religious principles, but never, ever about hatred or bigotry.”

Jackson has linked homosexuality and pedophilia: "I know their people say, well, it’s unfair to associate homosexuality with pedophilia or some of these other previsions. But I believe that there is a direction connection because what they really want is absolute sexual freedom."

Jackson has said gays are psychologically sick: "Their minds are perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they’re not talking about love, they’re talking about homosexual sex. So they can’t see clearly."

He commented on the Democrats' embrace of marriage equality this way:

Later this month when Democrats make same-sex marriage part of their official Party Platform, the former practicing attorney says they will be spitting in the face of every Bible-believing Christian in America: “They will be saying, 'We don't care what you think, what you believe, or what the Bible or the God of the Bible says. We know better than God.'”

And he has said pro-gay rights liberals “have done more to kill black folks whom they claim so much to love than the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and slavery and Jim Crow ever did.”

Log Cabin Republicans Take Out Full-Page Politico Ad Demanding GOP Stop Being So Anti-Gay

The Log Cabin Republicans took out a full-page ad in Politico today demanding the GOP widen its tent for LGBT Americans. The ad proclaims:

“Reagan’s Big Tent Isn’t What it Used to Be…”

“If the Republican Party wants to win future elections and set this country back on sound financial footing, it must put an end to its obsession with opposing equal rights for LGBT Americans. The GOP’s focus should be on bringing together existing members, reclaiming former Republicans, and attracting new voters. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, the freedom to marry is supported by 81 percent of adults younger than 30. If you don’t make the tent bigger, you might as well fold it up and go home.”

Said LCR executive director Gregory Angelo:

Some Republicans just don’t get it. Despite widespread and growing public support for marriage equality and the need to focus on increasing our numbers in the wake of the crushing electoral defeats of 2012, an element of the GOP remains hell-bent on emphasizing exclusion over inclusion.

Make no mistake: as Log Cabin Republicans, we want to win elections, and if the Republican Party wants to do the same it needs to take a stand against anti-gay rhetoric in its ranks and welcome the increasing numbers of Republicans who support the freedom to marry. Our ad today in Politico should be a wake-up call to Republicans and a reminder of the words of President Reagan, who, in describing his ‘big tent’ conservative philosophy, declared, ‘It is not your duty, responsibility or privilege to tear down, or attempt to destroy, others in the tent.’ Let’s make the tent bigger. Let’s get the Republican Party back on a path to victory.

Iowa Republicans Move to Slash Pay of Pro-Equality Judges

Iowa Republicans, the same group that has been trying to oust the Supreme Court judges who ruled to legalize same-sex marriage there in 2009, have filed legislation that would slash their salaries, Right Wing Watch reports.

From the Iowa City Gazette:

A handful of House conservatives want to reduce the pay of Iowa Supreme Court justices involved in a 2009 decision striking down a ban on same-sex marriages as part of an effort to maintain the balance of power in state government.

“It’s our responsibility to maintain the balance of power” between the three co-equal branches of government, Rep. Tom Shaw, R-Laurens, said Tuesday.

The justices “trashed the separation of powers” with their unanimous Varnum v. Brien decision and implementation of same-sex marriage without a change in state law banning any marriages expect between one man and one woman, added Rep. Dwayne Alons, R-Hull.

Their amendment to House File 120, the judicial branch budget bill, would lower the salaries of the four justices on the seven-member court who were part of the unanimous Varnum v. Brein decision to $25,000 – the same as a state legislator.

It’s not meant to be punitive, Alons and Shaw said Tuesday.
“We’re just holding them responsible for their decision, for going beyond their bounds,” Shaw said.

Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady Survives New Attempt to Oust Him for His Support of Marriage Equality

Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady has been the target of his party's ire since January when he said:

"Giving gay and lesbian couples the freedom to get married honors the best conservative principles. It strengthens families and reinforces a key Republican value - that the law should treat all citizens equally."

In March, Republican leaders had planned a meeting in which they were going to discuss firing Brady for his remarks but the meeting was canceled because of dissonance within the party.

The meeting finally happened on Saturday, and Brady came out alive, the AP reports:

About 50 Republican Party members attended Saturday’s meeting in Tinley Park of the party’s State Central Committee to ask that Brady step down or that the committee fire him.

After a tense, hourslong session, Brady remained as the party’s chairman. He said the committee did not take a vote on whether to fire him during a closed-door meeting Saturday.

“I think there are people in the party who don’t necessarily agree with me, but the point is .... we’re a party that welcomes all ideas,” Brady said. “You don’t have to be exactly a platform Republican to be welcome in the party, and that’s the direction we’re taking the party.”

This is the atmosphere Republicans have fostered with their anti-equality stance:

At one point, people gathered in a hallway outside the meeting began yelling and chanting, “Throw him out.”

Anti-Gay RNC Leader and Gay Republican Leader War Over Party's Marriage Position on 'Hardball': VIDEO

Check out thiis must-watch Hardball segment on Friday's RNC vote to reaffirm its opposition to same-sex marriage.

Chris Matthews watches with incredulity as Texas RNC Committeeman Robin Armstrong, who calls the GOP "the tolerant party", tells Matthews that he'd still join the GOP even if it were against the African-American civil rights movement.

Then Matthews asks Log Cabin Republican Executive Director Gregory Angelo how he likes being in a political party that doesn't believe in his equality. Says Angelo:"We're not part of the party because of its stance against so-called 'traditional marriage'. We're a part of the party in spite of that."

Armstrong and Angelo then engage in some back and forth debate with Matthews that reveals why the Republican Party is going down over this issue.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Incidentally, the RNC resolution that was passed on Friday was sponsored by none other than Dave Agema, the Michigan committeeman who has been at the center of a GOP storm over the anti-gay comments he posted on Facebook.

Agema tooted his horn on Friday following the vote:

"I am pleased with our success in the face of unrelenting criticism from the left and want to thank national social conservative leaders who made their voices heard loud and clear in this process," Agema said in a release following today's vote at the RNC's annual spring meeting in Los Angeles.

"I hope that we can all now move forward and talk about other issues … We have won the battle, and I will have nothing more to say on this matter."

Rick Santorum: Gay Marriage Discourages Straight Marriage - VIDEO

Bill O'Reilly invited Rick Santorum to appear on his show following Grosse Pointe High School's decision this week to re-invite the failed presidential candidate to speak after a cancelation and complaints from Santorum that his "free speech rights" were being trampled on.

Santorum said it was "disappointing" that parents were being made to sign a permission slip for their kids to see him speak "as if there's something that that person could do to harm your child."

After a discussion about how marriage equality is winning because it's being framed as a civil rights issue, O'Reilly asked Santorum if he believed that gay marriage would be "discouraging heterosexual marriage."

Said Santorum:

“Yeah, I believe we would. And because we'd be saying that marriage isn't about children. Isn't about having children. Isn't about raising children. And when we say that, then of course, the consequences are you're probably going to have less children. It's happening as we see it. It's already happening in America. Before this whole gay marriage debate, we really have seen a change in what marriage is in America."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(on top via tncrm)