Another anti-gay, Christianity-professing, marriage-defending GOP politician has an affair and resigns in disgrace

The San Diego Gay & Lesbian News reports:

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana, an outspoken “family values” politician who has consistently voted against LGBT issues, has resigned his seat a week after winning his Republican primary seeking re-election.

After callers began bombarding his office with accusations that he was having an affair with a staffer, Souder admitted that he was unfaithful to his wife and announced his “retirement.”

Souder, 59, held a hasty news conference in Fort Wayne, Ind., today to make his tearful confession. He noted that he has “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.”

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Michael Cole, a spokesman with the Human Rights Campaign, noted how Souder was anti-gay.

“Rep. Souder proves once again that it’s not LGBT people who are the threat to ‘family values.’ The good citizens of Indiana would be well served to elect a successor who in both word and deed more closely mirror their own values of equality and respect for all people.”

Cole said Souder has the distinction of scoring a zero on every single Human Rights Campaign scorecard since entering Congress in 1995. He has consistently voted against equal employment protections, common-sense hate crimes laws, increases in HIV/AIDS funding and providing any measure of equality to same-sex couples.

Joe Sudbay of AMERICAblog also blasted Souder.

"Souder has long been a crusader in the House against same-sex marriage. This year, he signed an amicus brief in a case against D.C.'s new marriage law,” Sudbay wrote.

“He also stated, 'I'm a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third,'" he wrote.

-SS