'I'll work really, really hard to get Obama re-elected': Newt Gingrich's gay half-sister slams her brother's opposition to gay marriage



The gay half-sister of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich slammed his position on gay rights on Wednesday and said she will support President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

Candace Gingrich-Jones, a gay rights activist, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that she and her older half-brother, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, were 'mutually respectful' but disagree on gay rights.

'He is definitely on the wrong side of history when it comes to those issues,' Ms Gingrich-Jones said.

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Politics is thicker than blood: Candace Gingrich-Jones said that she and her half-brother Newt disagree strongly but are 'mutually respectful'

She said that, in her role as associate director of youth and campus outreach for human rights campaign, she would 'work really, really hard to make sure that President Obama is re-elected next year no matter who the Republican candidate is'.

Mr Gingrich's campaign nearly sputtered to a halt last summer, but he has recently soared to the top of the polls in the Republican contest to choose a nominee to face Mr Obama in the 2012 election.

Mr Gingrich is known for his socially conservative views and has said he opposes gay marriage.

Talking issues: Rachel Maddow (left) asked Ms Gingrich-Jones (right) about how she felt when Newt didn't attend her wedding

Political opposites: Candace (right) was also vocal on LGBT issues when Newt (right) served as Speaker of the House in the Nineties

WHAT NEWT WANTS

As he tries to wrangle up some money in order to both pay off existing campaign debts and plot a strategy to match his new surge in the polls, new details have emerged about the way Mr Gingrich used to make his money.

Before announcing his candidacy, when he was just a former Speaker of the House and Republican party elder, Mr Gingrich was in high demand on the paid speaker circuit.

But in order for him to sign on for a lecture that earned him about $60,000 a pop, he had a few demands of his own.

In the rider for a lecture he gave at Missouri Western State University in January 2010, Mr Gingrich demanded that first class transportation and accommodation, along with a non-smoking one bedroom suite for him and a smaller non-smoking room for his traveling aide.

Even though his aide would obviously have a different room, Mr Gingrich wanted two bathrooms in his suite for some reason.

And while his wife would not always go to such events, the contract stipulates that should Callista attend, she would be seated next to her husband at all functions.

Ms Gingrich-Jones, a director at the Humans Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, said he did not attend her wedding to her wife Rebecca. On Ms Maddow's show, Ms Gingrich-Jones said that while he and his wife Callista were invited to the ceremony, they were traveling at the time.





'We still got a gift,' Ms Gingrich-Jones said light-heartedly.

Making a reference to the allegation that Mr Gingrich bought his wife over $1million worth of Tiffany's jewellery to convince her to allow him to run for president, Ms Maddow asked if said gift came in that famous robin egg blue box.



'I'm not at liberty to say,' Ms Gingrich-Jones joked.

'At the end of the day we are family and that’s important. The catch is that when we leave the dinner table or when we leave the Christmas gathering, he and Callista have way more rights than my wife Rebecca and I do,' she said.

The issue of gay rights is something that has long been touchstone of Republican politicking, and is starting to appear more in the current race as certain candidates, like Rick Perry, begin to start using harsher rhetoric on the topic.

'I wouldn't put it past any of the GOP presidential candidates. It's historically been one of the things — a tactic — that's used,' Ms Gingrich-Jones said.

Former Speaker, new leader: Newt Gingrich is now leading in the GOP race for the presidential candidate they hope will replace President Obama

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