HATE OF THE UNION

Is It Smart—Or Dangerous—For Gays To Spite Vote In The Republican Primaries?

From an editorial standpoint, we looove Rick Santorum. Romney is too bland and Gingrich is just plain mean. But Santorum gives the gay blogosphere so much grist for the mill, we’d almost hate to see him go. (Almost.)

But we still get nervous when our liberal friends say they hope he gets the nomination because he’ll surely sink the Republican ship.

That’s the line queer news site Fenuxe took with Georgia. The peachy-keen state has open primaries, so editor Ryan Lee was encouraging right-thinking gay Democrats in Georgia to cast a spite vote Tuesday for Tricky Rick:

With 76 delegates at stake, Georgia is the biggest prize of Super Tuesday, during which 11 states vote to award 419 total delegates (a candidate needs 1,144 delegates to secure the Republican nomination, and Romney currently leads the field with 203). Georgia has an “open primary” system, which means voters do not have to be registered as a Democrat or Republican to vote in either party’s primary.

Instead of requesting a Democratic primary ballot to vote for an unopposed Barack Obama, LGBT voters in Georgia ought to pull a Republican ballot on Tuesday in order to vote for one of the most enthusiastically bigoted politicians of our generation: Rick Santorum. While supporting Santorum might seem unfathomable to any LGBT voter familiar with the former Pennsylvanian senator’s wrathful views on homosexuality, there’s a potential windfall of benefits if Santorum wins the Peach State.

Most immediately, it would be absolutely deflating for the egomaniac Newt Gingrich to lose his home state. The former Speaker of the House’s ridiculous candidacy has been floundering for months, and what a delicious treat it would be for LGBT Georgians to help deliver the death-knell to Gingrich’s lost cause.

A win in Georgia would also give Santorum enough momentum to remain in the race for the Republican nomination, providing Santorum and Romney a few more weeks or months to remind Americans why neither one of them should be president. And with enough momentum, Santorum might eventually surpass Romney in the delegate count and win the Republican nomination.

It’s kind of a moot point now as Gingrich too Georgia handily. But many southern states have open primaries and we know a number of people who are registered Republicans just so they can vote in closed ones. Santorum had a strong enough showing on Super Tuesday that he’ll slog along for some time, so the option to cast a spite vote remains.

While we’d love to think keeping the Santorum train running clear to the convention would guarantee Obama’s election, the risks are just too high: If he somehow won the White House, gays would lose what rights they have, women wouldn’t have access to contraception (let alone abortion) and kids everywhere would be forced to wear cardigans as part of their school uniforms.

That’s not any America we want to be part of!

So, would you vote for ol’ Frothy Mix in the hopes that he’d never win in the general election? Cast your ballot in the comments.

Source: AJC.com

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