Herman Cain on LGBT Issues

Herman Cain is a businessman who is best known as CEO of Godfather Pizza. Cain is running on a 9-9-9 plan in which he thinks he can revise the economy with a 9% business tax, 9% flat income tax and 9% national sales tax.

Update:

Herman Cain withdrew from the presidential race in December 2011.

Herman Cain is strongly opposed to gay marriage. He says, "I believe in traditional marriage." Wolf Blitzer asked him in CNN, "Should Americans who are gay be allowed to get married?" Herman Cain answered, "I believe that is a decision that should be made by individual states. I support traditional marriage."

Herman Cain admitted on The View that if elected president he will bring back "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

When asked if he would appoint someone to a position who was openly gay, Herman Cain replied, “I just want people who–I want qualified. I want them to basically believe in the Constitution of the United States of America, so yep, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person.”

In addition to being opposed to same-sex marriage, Herman Cain is also opposed to civil unions and domestic partnerships. When asked by Wolf Blitzer if he supports civil unions for gays, Herman Cain said, "I support traditional marriage." Blitzer asked, "So you oppose civil unions?" Cain answered, "I support traditional marriage. Let's move on."

Herman Cain appeared on The View television talk show and was confronted by host Joy Behar. She asked Herman Cain if he really believed that being gay was a choice. Cain responded that he did believe it was a choice and said “Well, you show me the science that says that it’s not and I could be persuaded.” To that the Log Cabin Republicans issued a statement that reads in part, “The claim that a person chooses to be gay or lesbian has been discredited by every major professional medical organization, starting with the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. An individual’s orientation is no more a choice than the color of his skin or whether he is left-handed, and too many people have been hurt because of failed attempts to change the way they were born.”

Gay Staffer Issues

Herman Cain did have a gay staff member on his campaign staff. According to the Associated Press, Cain hired Scott Toomey as treasurer of his political action committee and senior political adviser. But Cain was forced to distance himself from Toomey, who was accused of misconduct in his role as treasurer of Madison Wisconsin Pride Board in 2007. According to reports, Toomey left bills unpaid and there were other financial discrepancies that it said Toomey had failed to report. Madison Pride had to scale back it's 2008 event as a result.

According to Think Progress, a former staffer to Cain, Kevin Hall, testified in court that Cain attempted to cover up the involvement of Scott Toomey in his campaign because he was openly gay.