Mitt Romney regularly incorporates lyrics from “America the Beautiful” into his stump speeches. Little does he probably realize that the hymn was written by a progressive feminist lesbian who composed it to critique country’s greed, excess, and growing economic inequality. The original third-verse lyrics Katharine Lee Bates wrote in 1894 were as follows:

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

She later rewrote the stanza, toning down the rhetoric but maintaining that wealth was not what made America great:

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

Given Romney’s vast personal wealth and his ongoing defense of the one percent, plus his opposition to same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights, he might wish to rethink which American poets he chooses to highlight in his speeches.

Both Rick Santorum and Rick Perry fell into a similar trap last year when they highlighted Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America,” despite Hughes’ record as pro-gay, pro-union, and pro-immigration. (HT: Mombian.)

A poll conducted by the University of Washington Center for Survey Research in October found that 55 percent of voters in Washington “would support a state gay marriage law if it’s approved by the Legislature.” Since Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) announced her support for marriage equality and promised to introduce legislation extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians, the organization is releasing additional details from the survey, which show even greater support for marriage.

The poll found that “a substantial percentage of people who prefer ‘domestic partnership’ say they would vote yes to keep same sex marriage if passed by the legislature. Even some who do not personally support marriage say they would be okay with the state legislature passing same sex marriage.” What’s more, “54 percent of self-described Independents and 57 percent of self-described moderates” would back a marriage equality law if it appeared as a referendum. Forty-six percent of self-identified conservatives also said that gay and lesbian relationships deserve some form of government recognition:

Supporter of marriage equality admit they are a few votes short in the Senate, but remain confident they will pass the measure in this legislative session. If they do, Washington will become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Former Utah governor and GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is speaking out against Rick Santorum’s efforts to link marriage equality to polygamy and urging the former Pennsylvania senator to treat all voters with dignity, Bloomberg reports:

One of the other candidates, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, in an appearance earlier this week compared gay marriage to polygamy, asking voters “what about three men?” Huntsman described that kind of rhetoric as divisive, saying the conversation ought to be based on “fairness and dignity.”

Huntsman is one of the few Republican presidential hopefuls to support civil unions and reciprocal beneficiary rights for same-sex couples, and would allow states to enact marriage equality. He has previously spoken out against homophobia in the campaign, condemning his fellow candidates for allowing a debate audience to jeer an openly-gay servicemember.

Huntsman first embraced civil unions in February 2009, despite supporting a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage in 2004.

Focus on the Family’s duplicity is not always obvious, but execution of their anti-gay rhetoric is becoming more transparent. In a post yesterday, FOTF’s director of Global Family Formation Studies Glenn T. Stanton boasted that a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business proves that boys benefit behaviorally from having “a home with a mom and a dad”:

STANTON: This supports over three decades of consistent research showing that kids who grow up in a home with their married parents tend to do better in all measures of educational attainment than their peers being raised in single, divorced and cohabiting-parent homes. This is true from everything from grade-point average, behavioral issues, high school graduation and going on to graduate from college. Moms and dads both matter here, as well as the type of relationship between them.

But though FOTF is clearly trying to use this as evidence against same-sex marriage, the study did not prove anything “against” same-sex parents.  The study in question (PDF here) did not, in fact, address same-sex parenting whatsoever, but instead compared children raised by married heterosexual parents to children raised by a single mother. It is one of many “fatherless” studies that conservative groups use to conflate not having a father/having one mother with having two mothers. Recall when Sen. Al Franken eviscerated FOTF’s Tom Minnery at a July Senate hearing for attempting to do the very same thing.

If anything, the Booth study supports arguments in favor of marriage equality, because it found that it was neither family structure nor biology that were the direct cause of differences in boys’ behavior, but environmental factors determined by levels of parental input. Stanton’s conclusions reflect nothing found in the actual research data — merely his discriminating ideology.

Rick Santorum received another round of “boos” for his opposition to allowing openly gay people to serve in the military and same-sex marriage, during a town hall in Keene, New Hampshire this morning. Santorum argued that gay people shouldn’t have the “privilege” of enlisting in the armed forces or marrying because “we decide what’s in the best interest of our national security” and what kind of relationships are best for society. “It’s not discrimination not to grant privileges. It’s discrimination to deny rights,” he explained. “Everyone has a right to live their life, that doesn’t mean that they’re entitled to certain privileges that society gives for certain benefits that society obtains from those relationships.” Santorum has pledged to reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and annul all same-sex marriages. Watch it:

During an appearance on MSNBC this morning, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) counseled the GOP presidential candidates to avoid discussing the state’s effort to repeal its 2009 marriage equality law, noting that voters are focused on “how you’re going to get this spending under control.” Ayottee also said she did not agree with Rick Santorum’s argument that marriage equality would lead to polygamy and expressed some confusion about how her state should treat married gay and lesbian couples if the marriage law is eliminated:

CHUCK TODD: New Hampshire, gay marriage is legal here. And I know there is an attempt to repeal it here. You favor that attempt, do you buy Sen. Santorum’s argument here that once you legalize same-sex marriage then you know, why not then legalize polygamy ?

AYOTTE: I don’t. And I really think, the issue, the focus of this primary is on the economic issues and while certainly among Republican voters there are strong feelings on the social issues, but the focus on New Hampshire in terms of the number one issue is going to be spending, size of government and how do we get people to work, so I think he’s really getting off message there.

TODD: But getting back to what New Hampshire is doing, what do you do to same-sex couples that have married, if the law is repealed here?

AYOTTE: What do you mean what do you do? … I mean obviously that’s a legal issue that would have to be addressed… you know, usually you have to, traditionally in a situation like that under law you have to grandfather people, rely on the law as it was and certainly that will be an issue the legislature will have to address if they change the law.

Watch it:

Ayotte’s suggestion that the legislature create different tiers of marriage for gay and lesbian people is reminiscent of the position Mitt Romney — who Ayotte endorsed — has staked out. Romney has proposed that the state maintain marriage rights for straight couples, allow gays who have already married to remain married, but prevent future same-sex marriages.

A former state Attorney General, Ayotte cut her teeth as a social conservative causes and has previously repudiated same-sex marriages performed in other states and championed a landmark case to the Supreme Court upholding New Hampshire’s parental notification abortion law.

Republican lawmakers in Washington state are coming out in opposition to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s (D) proposal to expand marriage rights to gays and lesbians, “saying it will create an unnecessary distraction” during a short legislative session. But Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt went a step further yesterday, suggesting that the measure is problematic because it is spearheaded by openly gay state lawmakers, Sen. Ed Murray (D) and Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D):

Speaking during the annual Associated Press Legislative Preview, Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt said the gay marriage debate would particularly create problems because Democratic budget negotiator Ed Murray is “vested in this personally.” Murray is gay and a long-time proponent of expanding marriage to same-sex couples.

“We should leave the social agenda off from the Legislature this year,” Hewitt said. “The last thing we need to do is be down here in turmoil over social issues.”

Citing “moral” concerns, Hewitt has voted against pro-gay legislation in the past that would have extended many of the same rights and responsibilities to domestic partners as currently apply to married spouses. But as Gregoire argued in a speech announcing her support for pro-marriage legislation, “Religions can decide what they want to do, but the state cannot be in the business of discrimination.”