Newt!, by Dick Williams: on Civil Rights

Newt Gingrich: 1968: Led college protest over suppressing racy newspaper

Newt Gingrich: America is multi-ethnic but not multi-cultural

His views also are grounded in his historical view: e pluribus unum, or out of many, one. To use his phrase, "American civilization is diverse and multiethnic, but it is one civilization." Newt finds common ground with those who argue that in diversity there is strength--but only to a point. We are multiethnic, but we are not multicultural.

Newt Gingrich: Affirmative action OK individually, but not by group

"It is my belief," he said, "that affirmative action programs, if done for individuals, are good, and if done by some group distinction, are bad. Because it is antithetical to the American dream to measure people by the genetic pattern of their great-grandmothers. So, I'm very interested in rewriting the affirmative action programs so that they allow individuals to get help whether they are Appalachian white or blacks from Atlanta. But I think it ought to be based on the fact that you individually have worked hard and are trying to rise and that you come out of a background of poverty and a background of cultural need."

A reporter noted that some beneficiaries of government preferences have been subjected to discrimination for centuries. "That's been true of virtually every American."

Newt Gingrich: Half-sister, a lesbian lobbyist: "Newt promotes tolerance"

The Speaker never has made much of an issue of homosexuality except to oppose its promotion in schools. In an interview with a homosexual newspaper in 1994, Gingrich said, "I think our position should be toleration. It should not be promotion and it should not be condemnation."

His half-sister disagreed, saying "A leaky faucet, a barking dog--those are the things you tolerate. While Newt is promoting tolerance, his colleagues are preparing anti-gay legislation."

Gingrich was unpersuaded, saying, "I am not prepared to establish a federal law that allows you to sue your employer if you end up not having a job because of a disagreement that involves your personal behavior."