As the hours tick down until Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) announces his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination, many outlets are speculating as to whether or not he will win the vote of the religious right with his vocal social conservatism. Just last month, he stirred up controversy with various Christian groups by flip-flopping on whether or not gay marriage should be legal. But Perry’s anti-gay record should speak for itself:

1. Perry has come down fiercely against gay marriage, both in Texas and nationally.

“Gay marriage is not fine with me,” Perry told Tony Perkins of the anti-gay Family Research Council last month. Contrary to his states’ rights rhetoric on issues like health care and education mandates, he is in favor of a federal amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. While serving as governor, he pushed for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Texas. After voters approved the amendment, he signed it symbolically at a Christian school, declaring that now gay marriage is “beyond the reach of activist judges.”

2. He supports a Texas law that criminalizes sodomy, even though it has been unconstitutional since 2003.

When asked for his views on the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling an anti-sodomy law unconstitutional, Perry responded with, “I think our law is appropriate that we have on the books.” He later blamed the decision on the Supreme Court’s “nine oligarchs in robes” in his second book, Fed Up! Texas lawmakers have introduced legislation to repeal the statute during three separate legislative sessions, and yet Perry has not supported any of them. In 2010, he even ran for re-election on a GOP platform explicitly supporting the criminalization of gay sex.

3. Perry criticized President Obama for signing hate-crimes legislation in 2010.

When running against U.S. Senator Kay Hutchinson in 2009, his campaign conducted a series of robocalls calling out Obama for “making homosexuality a protected class” by signing hate-crimes protections for the LGBT community into law. Instead, he is looking to hire Robert Black, one of his former staffers who is prone to hateful speech himself. Black made the papers in 1998 for likening the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay conservatives, to the Ku Klux Klan and characterizing the organization as “deviant.”

4. He is cultivating relationships with anti-gay hate groups.

As has been widely reported, the American Family Association–which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated an “anti-gay hate group”–organized and funded in large measure Perry’s Aug. 6 prayer rally in Houston. The Response, which drew around 30,000 attendees, was also affiliated with pastors who described the gay movement as coming from the “pit of hell” and who blamed Hurricane Katrina on gays. He has also reportedly spoken with several members of the New Apostolic Reformation in a June closed-door meeting aimed at developing a counter-strategy to Obama in 2012. Rachel Maddow described anti-gay sentiment as “prominent in NAR preaching, where hurricanes, tornadoes, dead birds and the rise of the Nazis are all blamed on gays and lesbians.”

5. And if you don’t agree with him, Perry thinks you should live elsewhere.

When asked by a local NBC anchor for his response to the gay veterans protesting the new constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2005, Perry retorted, “Texans made a decision about marriage and if there’s a state that has more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that’s a better place for them to live.”

–Sarah Bufkin

A gay man challenged Tim Pawlenty on his opposition to same-sex marriage this afternoon, as the candidate was speaking on the ‘Soap Box’ at the Iowa State Fair. “You are discriminating against me and it hurts, it really does,” the man told him. Pawlenty said he would “never be at the point where I say that every domestic relationship is the same as traditional marriage”:

Q: I thought our country was about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone, no exceptions. So Tim Pawlenty, I want to know know — when will you stand up for me…because you are discriminating against me and it hurts, it really does.

PAWLENTY: I understand we have a difference of opinion on this issue…the relationship between a man and a woman in a traditional marriage is important to our country, our society, our culture…

Q: I support that you have your moral values, but that is something that is hurting my future and how I get to live my life…why does government get involved in our marriages? … Do you think I’m a second class citizen?

PAWLENTY: We’re just going to have a respectful disagreement, sir.

Watch it:

At last night’s GOP debate, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was asked if she would employ her belief that a woman should be submissive to her husband as president. The question elicited loud boos from the audience, and when Bachmann finally responded, she redefined the word “submit,” saying that she and her husband interpreted it to mean mutual “respect.” Watch it:

Leave aside that the egalitarianism of mutual respect is the complete opposite of one person submitting to another. By compromising her belief in submission, Bachmann not only provided another example of doublethink in the debate, she also directly violated the teachings of John Eidsmoe, her close college mentor. Bachmann served as Eidsmoe’s research assistant at Oral Roberts University and now describes him as “a great influence,” “a wonderful man,” and “absolutely brilliant.”

Brian Tashman at People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch has been reading Eidsmoe’s book God & Caesar, which is about how Christians should engage in politics and government. Eidsmoe affirms the belief that, according to the Bible, the man is the “head of the house” and the husband is the “head of the wife.” But Eidsmoe doesn’t stop there; he goes on to condemn the rise of feminism and women who have careers, particularly any who try to suggest being a housewife is not fulfilling enough:

Many had planned all their lives to become housewives and mothers, believing such a calling would bring meaning and fulfillment to their lives. Now they are told by the feminists that it is ‘demeaning’ and ‘unfulfilling’ to be a housewife, and they don’t know what to believe. They are frustrated as housewives and feel guilty for not being ‘more,’ but don’t feel any inclination for anything else. And the husband, who planned all this life to be a traditional husband and father and thought he was marrying a traditional wife, feels threatened, insecure, and resentful about these changes in his wife. If the wife goes to work, he may resent sharing housework; that wasn’t what he bargained for when he entered the marriage (p. 124).

Bachmann did not clarify whether her husband would be “head of the house” if the house is the White House. It seems that her actual beliefs are those which best cater to what she actually wants to do. That’s hardly submission.

During an appearance at the Iowa State Fair this afternoon, businessman and Tea Party presidential candidate Herman Cain told openly gay CNN anchor Don Lemon that he doesn’t support changing the constitution…unless it’s to prevent gays and lesbians from getting married:

CAIN: Don’t re-write the constitution, enforce the Constitution, that’s what that whole movement is about.

DON LEMON: Don’t rewrite the constitution? Even when it comes to gay marriage, same-sex marraige?

CAIN: Don’t rewrite the constitution. Now, there is a difference between rewriting the constitution and adding something to the constitution. There is a difference between that, okay?

Watch it:

The Human Rights Campaign has released a new poll showing that Utahns have “warmer feelings toward gay and lesbian people than they do toward President Barack Obama.” Gay and lesbians scored a 51 percent approval rating, while Obama received an average 38 points, the survey found. Seventy-seven percent of residents would also support extending anti-discrimination protections in housing, employment and public accommodations to the LGBT community, and “42 percent said their feelings about LGBT people have become more accepting over the last five to 10 years.” A majority — 63 percent — still oppose same-sex marriage.

The poll comes as HRC kicks off its 17-city equality tour in Salt Lake City, Utah today, which is meant to highlight the growing acceptance of gay and lesbian people in the state. Watch local news coverage of the events: