'Rick Santorum's homophobic frothing,' by Dan Savage, in The Guardian

[Newsjock]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/04/rick-santorum-homophobic-frothing

... But it was Rick Santorum – the most notorious homophobe in the race – who wound up being the biggest winner of the Iowa caucuses. Santorum, who once compared consensual sexual contact between adults of the same sex to child rape and dog fucking, technically finished second, eight votes behind Mitt Romney. But Santorum's come-from-behind near-victory was the story of the night, and the political press has declared that Santorum has, ahem, the big 'mo.

... This has been dubbed "Santorum's Google problem", as more Americans than ever are using the online media to learn about politicians. But Rick Santorum and the GOP have a much bigger problem on their hands than a joke my readers made at Santorum's expense nearly eight years ago. The GOP's doubling down on homophobia, the non-stop gay bashing, is going to cost them votes – and not just the votes of 9,000,000 (or more) LBGT Americans out there, but, again, the votes of tens of millions of our straight family members, friends and coworkers.

The numbers of LGBT Americans aren't growing. We may not know what are true numbers are – we may never know – but we do seem to be a set and constant percentage of the population; despite what Herman Cain believes, people do not and cannot choose to be gay. Republican politicians can go on describing us as a threat to the family or, as Rick Santorum once described us, a threat to "homeland security", but the American people aren't buying it anymore. The homophobes now find themselves outside the mainstream: Americans supported the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell by a three-to-one margin, yet nearly every GOP candidate for president has pledged to reinstate the policy. A majority of Americans now support marriage equality – equal rights and responsibilities for same-sex couples – but almost the entire GOP field pledged to write anti-gay bigotry into the US Constitution.

The GOP has doubled down on homophobia in an attempt to appease its increasingly elderly, marginalised and out-of-touch base. Betting on homophobia may pay off politically in the short run (ask Rick Santorum), but it is a losing bet for the GOP in the long run – one that will cost them at the ballot box this November.

[Autumn]

1. You know, it just don't get any better than that.

Rec for the headline alone.