There are some troubling signs among the Republican presidential hopefuls that should alarm LGBT voters. In Iowa, site of the first caucus, potential candidates are trying to one-up each other on social issues, including same-sex marriage, instead of talking about the country's two wars, a military action in Libya, and the still-sputtering economy with the recent spike in gas prices.
Many of the Republican presidential wannabes are pandering to the lowest common denominators – prejudice and fear – in an effort to win the popularity prize and raise money. Same-sex marriage had largely faded as a hot button topic in the last couple of years as the economy tanked and unemployment grew. Even the Tea Party focused on anger over the president's health care reform and fiscal issues like the national debt and largely stayed out of social issues. That all proved to be a winning strategy as Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and inched closer to becoming a majority in the Senate.
Now some of these same politicians are desperate to break out of a crowded field of potential presidential candidates and have seized on marriage equality as one of their key issues.
Iowa is one of five states where same-sex marriages are legal, but the state has paid a heavy price for that equality. Three Iowa Supreme Court justices were bounced from office last November because of their 2009 decision to allow same-sex couples to marry. A large chunk of financing for the campaign to remove them came from Newt Gingrich, who funneled $125,000 to a group behind the effort. Gingrich, a former House speaker, is exploring a presidential bid and is widely expected to run. But the fact that he's been married three times causes some distress among Christian conservatives. No doubt Gingrich – who has a lesbian half-sister – has figured out that opposing marriage equality for gays will play well in Iowa and other early states and will take some of the sting out of his own personal story.
Former Senator Rick ("Man on Dog") Santorum traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire several times and is weighing a presidential run, pledging to take on social issues. Just this week in New Hampshire, Santorum said that the Social Security system would be in better shape if there were fewer abortions. According to the Associated Press, he said that the reason Social Security is in trouble is because there aren't enough workers, which he blamed on the country's "abortion culture." We don't think there is any kind of abortion culture in this country; most every politician who discusses the topic wishes there were fewer of them. But outlawing abortion isn't going to replenish Social Security coffers and Santorum knows it.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour made several tone-deaf comments referring to the civil rights era. He praised the pre-segregation Citizens Council, a white supremacist organization. And as a prominent social conservative, he pledged last weekend to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the military's anti-gay policy that was repealed last year (although it has not been implemented yet). Gay blogger Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) pointed out that Barbour is the third prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidate to make such a promise, "because gay soldiers are going to be too busy cruising other men to effectively kill the bad guys."
But perhaps no one should give the community pause more than Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. She is rapidly stepping in to fill the void left by the floundering Sarah Palin and while most observers don't expect Bachmann to run for president, she has a strong following in Iowa, where Mike Huckabee won the caucuses in the 2008 contest. Bachmann is not only intellectually dishonest, she makes Fox News look credible. But make no mistake, she is working to change the focus of the 2012 race toward social issues. In Iowa last weekend, the New York Times reported that she fired up the crowd at an event when she declared, "Social conservatism is fiscal conservatism."
Most people don't see it that way. Fiscal conservatism as a political ideology means smaller government and lower taxes. It does not mean passing anti-gay legislation that would put the government in people's homes or deciding whom they can marry. But Bachmann doesn't care that she's muddying the waters. All she cares about is raising her profile, perhaps for national office.
So far the potential GOP presidential candidates make up a weak field. And there are Republicans out there who see it that way, too. Iowa Republican activist Doug Gross told the Times, "We look like Camp Christian out here. If Iowa becomes some extraneous right-wing outpost, you have to question whether it is going to be a good place to vet your presidential candidate."
Indeed.
Welcome to the start of the next presidential race.