Scott Arnold (photo courtesy Des Moines Register)

“I asked him if he’s elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans. How are we to support him? And he told me to support Obama,” said Arnold. […]

“When you ask somebody a question and you expect them to support all Americans and have everyone’s general interest,” Arnold said. “It’s a little bit frustrating and disheartening when you’re told to support the other side. That he doesn’t need your support.”

Similarly, in an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show earlier this month, Newt Gingrich’s half-sister Candice Gingrich-Jones, a lesbian and advocate for marriage equality, said she would “work really, really hard to make sure that President Obama is re-elected next year no matter who the Republican candidate is.” “He is definitely on the wrong side of history when it comes to those issues,” Gingrich-Jones said of Newt.

A Massachusetts newspaper is catching heat for mocking transgender celebrity Chaz Bono and a new state law prohibiting discrimination against gender identity. In its Dec. 19 edition, “The Lowell Sun ran the following lyrics, meant to be sung to the tune of ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ as part of an article titled ‘Christmas carols — with a twist,’ written by columnist and copy editor Dan Phelps:”

Chaz Bono got turned into a man, dear.
Dancin’ with a woman on TV.
You might say there’s no such thing as Santa
Till you see what Chaz got ‘neath his tree. [...]

Now transgenders in the Bay State
Have a law that’s etched in black.
It says they can change their gender.
Then if they want, they can change it back.

Interestingly, the last line echoes the actual comments of Massachusetts Rep. Sheila Harrington (R), who asked two transgender witnesses if transgender people are able to change their genders on a “day-to-day basis” when the Judiciary Committee considered the legislation in June. The Human Rights Campaign has condemned the lyrics, saying, “It is unacceptable for transgender Americans, and the very real challenges they face, to become comedic punch lines –- and we have an obligation to speak out against such dangerous stereotypes.”

The FAMiLY Leader’s Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center have endorsed conservative values stalwart Rick Santorum for president, who, despite a strong record of opposing abortion rights and marriage equality, has failed to gain any significant traction in the state. Santorum is also the only GOP presidential candidate to campaign in all 99 of Iowa’s counties and has participated in over 350 town halls. The Leader’s board has agreed to remain neutral in the caucuses.

Vander Plaats and his group have sought to position themselves as kingmakers of the Iowa caucuses, hosting a presidential speakers forum earlier this year, and asking candidates to sign a 14-point marriage fidelity pledge vowing to oppose same-sex marriage. During today’s announcement Vander Plaats downplayed the influence of his personal endorsement, saying that the endorsement may have limited value, given the proximity of the Jan. 3 caucuses:

VANDER PLAATS: He has been a stalwart and a soldier for the sanctity of human life and God’s design for the family, one man-one woman marriage…. So today, I as an individual am going to endorse Rick Santorum. I’m going to mobilize whatever resources I have at my disposal to advocate for him. I will not tear down another candidate….I believe Rick Santorum comes from us. He comes from us, not just to us. He’s one of us….I also recognize that we’re down to fourteen days minus Christmas.

Watch it:

A Gallup poll released several weeks ago found that Santorum — a candidate who has camped out in Iowa and delivered every bigoted anti-gay argument imaginable — is the least acceptable nominee for president from the Republican Party — according to Republicans. Just 27 percent of GOP voters said Santorum could represent the party in 2012; 62 percent said he was “not acceptable.”

The FAMiLY Leader has its own long history of anti-gay and anti-Muslim rhetoric. An early version of the group’s fidelity pledge suggested that children were better off under slavery than they are under Obama, and the document likens homosexuality to polygamy, adultery, or polyandry, attacks gays as a public health risk, and foments the non-existent “Sharia” threat to America. Vander Plaats himself led a successful campaign to oust three state Supreme Court justicies who overturned Iowa’s anti-gay marriage law and played in instrumental part and leading Mike Huckabee to victory in Iowa in 2008.

Thrice-married Newt Gingrich has secured the endorsement of Don Wildmon, the founder of the vehemently anti-gay American Family Association, the Hill reports. “Newt Gingrich recognizes the threat to our country posed by judges and lawyers imposing values upon the country inconsistent with our religious heritage, and has proposed constitutional steps to bring the courts back in balance under the constitution,” Wildmon said in a statement. “We need someone in the White House who can balance the budget and get the economy moving again. Newt has done it before and I believe he can do it again. I am proud to endorse Newt Gingrich for president.”

One of the cogs in Gingrich’s vast network of business enterprises and front groups, ReAL Action, has provided $125,000 to the AFA’s sister organization, American Family Association Action. The group’s outspoken policy directory Bryan Fischer has “proposed criminalizing homosexual behavior” and has even advocated forcing gays into “reparative” therapy.

When ThinkProgress confronted Gingrich over his association with the group, the former speaker defended Fischer, saying, “You bring a series of allegations that I can’t check about a group that is largely a Christian based membership group, that is fairly widespread in its membership and I suspect most of those people do not in any way think of themselves as a hate group even if that’s how you would characterize them. Watch it:

During an appearance on Fisher’s show, Gingrich also promised to “slow down the homosexual agenda” if he were elected president and told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly in 2008 that “there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us is prepared to use violence, to use harassment.” Gingrich has recently described same-sex marriage as “a temporary aberration that will dissipate.” “I think that it is just fundamentally goes against everything we know,” he claimed in September.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled AFA a hate group — and for good reason. Aside from its animus towards gay people, “In late 2009, Fischer suggested that all Muslims should be banned from joining the U.S. military” and has repeatedly called “for a ban on immigration by Muslims and for local communities to ban the construction of mosques.” But according to Gingrich, this kind of sentiment should not reflect poorly on “a Christian based membership group.”