Assuming Marianne Gingrich’s allegations are true, Newt Gingrich reacted to news of his own wrongdoing by attempting to justify his deplorable behavior (asking for an “open marriage” after he’s already cheating) and then proceeding to continue down that path anyway (dumping Marianne for Callista). While most would be repelled by such actions, Dr. Keith Ablow of Fox News’ “Medical A-Team” believes Gingrich’s personal choices would not negatively impact his performance as president. In fact, Ablow argues’ that Gingrich’ ability to attract so many women is a sign that the rest of the country will fall for him too:

You can take any moral position you like about men and women who cheat while married, but there simply is no correlation, whatsoever—from a psychological perspective—between whether they can remain true to their wedding vows and whether they can remain true to the Oath of Office. [...]

Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one.

Ablow’s words speak for themselves, and should not be surprising. Here’s a look back at how Fox News’ resident psychiatrist regularly insists on letting men off the hook for failed marriages:

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A new study released today by UCLA’s Williams Institute finds that sexual minority stress —a lifetime of stigma — has significant consequences on the mental health of older gay men, but notes that access to marriage creates a protective effect that counteracts some of the negative outcomes. The study’s key findings:

– Minority stressors were significantly associated with mental health, heightening depressive symptoms.

– Older gay men’s aging-related stressors are amplified because discrimination and disassociation have impacted their ability to be financially secure and independent.

– Personal “mastery” (high self-efficacy, self-esteem, and crisis competence) helped mediate the mental health impact of stressors, but did not account for any positive effect.

– Conversely, emotional support helped mediate the effect of stressors on positive affect, but did not help curb depressive symptoms.

– Having a same-sex domestic partner, or ideally a legal spouse, boosted both positive affect and helped reduce depressive symptoms.

These results jibe with previous studies that demonstrate the compounding impact of stigma on older gay adults, but they also help reveal a core flaw in the arguments made by those who oppose LGBT equality. When conservatives claim that there are “health consequences” to homosexuality, they are contributing to those very consequences by proliferating anti-gay stigma. This study suggests the best way to support the health of gay adults is to advocate for their right to marry those who they care for.

A new survey of 1,300 LGBT Coloradans finds that the community faces substantial challenges in obtaining access to affordable and timely health care as compared to their heterosexual counterparts. For instance, LGBT respondents “were more likely to report factors that have been associated with poor health outcomes due to workplace and societal discrimination, family and social rejection, and minority stress” and had a harder time finding LGBT-friendly providers or revealing their sexual orientation or gender identity to their provides. “Transgender/gender non-conforming Coloradans endure even greater challenges to accessing, affording, and receiving quality mental and physical health care when compared to transgender people nationwide,” the report concluded.

Here are the results in five graphs:

Read the full report here.

“A Maryland woman says she was denied the right to visit her same-sex partner at Washington Adventist Hospital,” the Associated Press is reporting, and has filed a complain with the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The woman, Linda Cole, claims that the hospital “refused to recognize her as family” and did not let her see her partner Kat Wilderotter until Wilderotter’s sister Kristen intervened:

Wilderotter says when Cole followed her ambulance to the emergency room, she was stopped at the front desk and not allowed to be at her side – until Wilderotter’s sister arrived.

“So Kristen goes up and says, ‘Hi. I’m Kristen. My sister Kat has been admitted and I’d like to see her.’ And the woman at the front desk said, ‘We have family here now’ and let Kristen back. And Kristen brought Linda back. And as they were about to cross through the doors, Kristen took Linda’s hand and said ‘I know what just happened here,’” said Wilderotter.

Watch the local report:

The hospital is attributing the incident to a “misunderstanding between the staff and Ms. Cole.” “I am very sorry that Ms. Cole felt anything less than fully valued when she came to our hospital because as a matter of both policy and practice, we treat all people who come through our doors the same regardless of their faith, tradition, ethnicity or their sexual orientation,” the hospital president said.

Last year, the Obama administration finalized a policy requiring hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds to allow patients to designate their own visitors as well as who can make emergency medical decisions, including same-sex partners.

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins appeared on MSNBC this morning to discuss last night’s GOP presidential debate and the recent revelations that Newt Gingrich allegedly asked his second wife for an open marriage.

The conservative leader — who regularly condemns gay people, “churns out brochures that compare same-sex marriages to those bonds which might exist between a man and a horse,” likens gays to terrorists, calls LGBT rights a battle of “good versus evil,” and claims gay teens kill themselves because they know that they’re “abnormal” — expressed concern about Gingrich’s personal past, but also raised questions about the wisdom of asking about his marriage during the debate. Ultimately, he suggested that Evangelical Christians are “not judgmental” and understanding, and could embrace a candidate who has sinned:

PERKINS: More than anybody, Evangelicals understand the story of Redemption, that people make mistakes and there can be a turning point. The tension becomes — have we reached that turning point on these issues and were they mistakes, were they character flaws that remain….People don’t want to be seen as that judgmental, because they’re not judgmental, but at the same time, they’re having some serious questions about the character of the candidate.

Watch it:

The hypocrisy between Gingrich’s private life and his public policies is staggering. The former House speaker describes same-sex relationships as a “temporary aberration” and promises to “support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification.” All the while he has been married to three different women and has cheated on at least two of them. Yet for “not judgmental” conservatives like Perkins, this kind of behavior is far more acceptable than allowing for the recognition of monogamous same-sex relationships or even the very existence of gay people.