New ABC Talker Laura Ingraham Has Antigay Record

Conservative pundit Laura Ingraham, recently named an ABC News contributor, has a gay brother, but she's not exactly an ally on issues affecting him and other LGBT people.

Ingraham has frequently asserted her opposition to marriage equality; after last year's pro-equality Supreme Court rulings, she asserted that she supports civil unions for same-sex couples but worries that the advance of marriage rights might turn Catholics "into the persona non grata of the moment." She is a convert to Roman Catholicism.

Also last year, she clashed with fellow right-wing commentator Bill O'Reilly, who had said opponents of marriage equality need to do more than "thump the Bible" to prevail on the issue. Ingraham said he had insulted conservative Christians.

This year she lambasted Guinness for withdrawing sponsorship of the New York St. Patrick's Day parade because of the ban on participation by LGBT groups identifying as such. "Welcome to the new totalitarianism," she said.

She also has ridiculed the idea that parents should be accepting of transgender children, saying it turns children into "sexual beings" at an early age.

Ingraham, who will continue her syndicated radio show as well as her role as a Fox News contributor, has frequently used inflammatory language on other subjects. She has said food stamp recipients feed at "the udder of the government," that the nation should "wall off Detroit" if the city is successful in attracting immigrants, and that immigration from Mexico will turn the U.S. into a "hellhole." Media Matters has a roundup here.