Newt Ggrich’s half-sister, Candace Ggrich- Jon rips siblg on gay marriage: I’ll vote for Obama

Contents:

• GGRICH: NEWT'S GAY SISTER GETS OUT FRONT
• NEWT GGRICH'S GAY HALF SISTER SAYS SHE WILL 'WORK REALLY, REALLY HARD' TO GET OBAMA REELECTED
• CANDACE GGRICH-JON QUTNS WHETHER BROTHER NEWT GGRICH REALLY BELIEV HIS OWN ANTI-GAY RHETORIC
• GINGRICH’S SISTER AMONG GAYS LOBBYING IN D.C.
• CHENEY SISTERS’ GAY-MARRIAGE FIGHT: A GGRICH HAS SOME ADVICE
• NEWT GGRICH: GAY PRI FLAG AT U.S. EMBASSI IS 'DELIBERATELY ANTI-AMERIN'
• GAY HALF-SISTER OF NEWT GGRICH BACKG BARACK OBAMA
• GAY HALF-SISTER OF REPUBLIN GGRICH BACKS OBAMA
• WHY DO NEWT GGRICH THK GAY PEOPLE NEED TO BE MORE TOLERANT?
• NEWT GGRICH’S HALF-SISTER, CANDACE GGRICH- JON RIPS SIBLG ON GAY MARRIAGE: I’LL VOTE FOR OBAMA

GGRICH: NEWT'S GAY SISTER GETS OUT FRONT

When hundreds of gay and lbian activists march on Capol Hill this week to mand support for AIDS fundg, Newt Ggrich's half sister, Candace, will be at the head of the pack.

NEWT GGRICH'S GAY HALF SISTER SAYS SHE WILL 'WORK REALLY, REALLY HARD' TO GET OBAMA REELECTED

As ever, the relig right is termed to make homosexualy a wedge issue. And the gay-rights movement wants to e Candace Ggrich to fight back.

'' Sensg a public-relatns payoff, gay activists began urtg her. ""Candace is rehg, '' says Elizabeth Birch of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the natn's largt gay lobby.

CANDACE GGRICH-JON QUTNS WHETHER BROTHER NEWT GGRICH REALLY BELIEV HIS OWN ANTI-GAY RHETORIC

'' In January, after jog the fay to celebrate her half brother's swearg- Washgton, Candace flew to Chigo for a gay polil ball.

GINGRICH’S SISTER AMONG GAYS LOBBYING IN D.C.

""I don't md her beg gay, but don't start on Newtie! ''On a personal level, the speaker appears to be fortable around gays.

Before the electn, he promised to hold heargs this year on allegatns that feral funds are beg ed for homosexual ""recment'' the public schools. Ggrich cled to be terviewed about his sister, but the past, he has urged ""tolerance'' for gays.

""While Newt is promotg tolerance, his lleagu are preparg anti-gay legislatn. 'I'll work really, really hard to get Obama re-elected': Newt Ggrich's gay half-sister slams her brother's opposn to gay marriage The gay half-sister of Republin printial ndidate Newt Ggrich slammed his posn on gay rights on Wednday and said she will support Print Barack Obama the 2012 electn.

CHENEY SISTERS’ GAY-MARRIAGE FIGHT: A GGRICH HAS SOME ADVICE

Candace Ggrich-Jon, a gay rights activist, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that she and her olr half-brother, the former speaker of the Hoe of Reprentativ, were 'mutually rpectful' but disagree on gay rights. Mr Ggrich's mpaign nearly sputtered to a halt last summer, but he has recently soared to the top of the polls the Republin ntt to choose a nomee to face Mr Obama the 2012 Ggrich is known for his socially nservative views and has said he oppos gay marriage.

Ms Ggrich-Jon, a director at the Humans Rights Campaign, a gay advocy group, said he did not attend her weddg to her wife Rebec. The issue of gay rights is somethg that has long been touchstone of Republin polickg, and is startg to appear more the current race as certa ndidat, like Rick Perry, beg to start g harsher rhetoric on the topic. The GOP ont-nner's gay younger sister has fed her life and reer opposn to Ggrich's polics -- but they still love each other like fay Candace Ggrich-Jon, the lbian younger sister of Newt Ggrich, has never seen eye to eye wh her brother polilly.

And yet she ow her reer as a gay activist -- she's been an official at the Human Rights Campaign for 16 years -- to the former speaker of the Hoe and current Republin printial ont-nner.

NEWT GGRICH: GAY PRI FLAG AT U.S. EMBASSI IS 'DELIBERATELY ANTI-AMERIN'

'When we were done havg our nversatn, my mom said, 'You're gog to have to give your dad and I time to get ed to this, bee when we were growg up we didn't have gay people. ' I was like, mmm, maybe lor TV, maybe microwav, Mom, but there were gay people when you were growg up. You jt didn't know they were gay luck would have , my mom was very efficient and quickly told everybody else the fay for me, which was fe -- I didn't really relish the ia of llg everybody up and tellg them.

We met later that week and she asked me if I was gay.

I thk there were some people who pictured me as some ant homosexual activist bee I was bold enough to clare I was a lbian -- marchg at the head of the para, tryg to cha myself to the Whe Hoe fence, stuff like that -- when realy I was not an activist, at least not were you dog at that time? If I had a dream, was to maybe open a women's bookstore-slash-brewery polics of gay rights were so much different at that time, weren't they?

GAY HALF-SISTER OF NEWT GGRICH BACKG BARACK OBAMA

There were fely some champns even then, but overall, was still 'God, Guns and Gays' -- the three thgs the Republin Party ed to mpaign what happened? The fallout was a lot of reporters then started lookg at Newt's polil past and reer and statements and posns, and they were fdg thgs that were egregly anti-gay and not supportive at all.

Not that we were close or had spent a lot of time together, but that he would actually thk that beg gay was like beg an alholic, that we should be [merely] 'tolerated, ' that we weren't pable of beg fai. They're behd history, they're behd the tim, they don't jibe wh what most people the untry thk, but yet they still clg to did you thk of Rick Perry's recent ad, which he says, "There's somethg wrong this untry when gays n serve openly the ary but our kids n't openly celebrate Christmas or pray school"? I gus that is kd of a fay do you thk Newt hasn't gone as far as some other Republins who have gay relativ, such as former Vice Print Dick Cheney, who has a gay dghter and supports gay marriage?

The qutn for me [wh Newt] is, what would his posns be like if he didn't have a gay sister? Most people are changed by [havg a gay relative]. But he's also known gay people other than me.

GAY HALF-SISTER OF REPUBLIN GGRICH BACKS OBAMA

Steve Gunrson, the former gay ngrsman om Wisns, and he were good remember, some of the supportive statements om Dick Cheney didn't happen until after he was out of the vice princy. People growg up today know there are gay people.

Whether 's their iends or teachers or relativ or neighbors or even jt turng on the TV and watchg 'Glee' or 'Morn Fay, ' they know there are gay people, and that is such a powerful and Newt seem to have a mutual rpect and even affectn, spe how much you've been fed by your polil differenc.

And she's not sure if he even believ all the anti-gay rhetoric or not. " Ggrich-Jon, an activist wh the Human Rights Campaign Foundatn who has clashed wh her brother sce the '90s and is backg Print Obama for re-electn, slammed the tic remarks Ggrich has ma about gays, cludg his ments earlier the year that gay marriage is a "temporary aberratn. " She's also not sure if Ggrich is fakg all, panrg to the evangelil base the Republin Party, or if he really believ the claims he mak on homosexualy and LGBT rights.

WHY DO NEWT GGRICH THK GAY PEOPLE NEED TO BE MORE TOLERANT?

While promotg fay valu, he remas close to a dghter who volly supports abortn rights and a half-sister who is gay.

Gay, who still teach history at the llege, said: "I'm not certa whether he has prcipl. His youngt half-sister, Candy, 28, is gay. He has ma numero pronouncements about homosexualy, cludg parg to alholism.

"Last year, he said he had "no strong posn" agast Print Clton's proposal to lift the ban on gays the ary. Candace Ggrich-Jon, the sister of the would-be print of the Uned Stat, is a lbian and a longtime activist for equal rights for gay people. And their ntued efforts to play to anti-gay voters show how much work remas.

NEWT GGRICH’S HALF-SISTER, CANDACE GGRICH- JON RIPS SIBLG ON GAY MARRIAGE: I’LL VOTE FOR OBAMA

See this exchange wh Ball: What did you thk of Rick Perry's recent ad, which he says, "There's somethg wrong this untry when gays n serve openly the ary but our kids n't openly celebrate Christmas or pray school"? Ocsnally the digizatn procs troduc transcriptn errors or other problems; we are ntug to work to improve the archived her brother's electn as Speaker of the Hoe last fall, Candace Ggrich's homosexualy beme a matter of public rerd. Now, her first official role as a reprentative of gays and lbians, she has e to Washgton to lobby Congrs to prerve money for AIDS Ms.

Ggrich, a 28-year-old puter technician om Harrisburg, Pa., has not even schled a vis wh her brother, Newt Ggrich, the most powerful Republin on Capol Hill the fact, she said an terview today, she has not discsed her homosexualy wh him at all. "We don't talk that much anyhow, " she said, seated the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel, where the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the natn's largt gay and lbian polil anizatn, is holdg a nference and preparg s Congrsnal lobbyg said she admted her homosexualy to herself about eight years ago and then discsed wh her fay. Ggrich's views on homosexualy appeared an terview published November the Washgton Bla, a gay newspaper, which took note of his "nsistent votg rerd agast gay issu.

"Comparg homosexualy to alholism, Mr. Ggrich said, "that still allows for to be fired merely for beg gay or lbian, and that's not tolerance, that's discrimatn.