Top 10 News Stories of 2012

As far as the news cycle is concerned, 2012 was a banner year for LGBTs. From never-ending coverage of Chick-fil-A’s antigay ways to the president’s endorsement of marriage equality — and the collective conservative conniption that followed — these are the stories that topped our gaydar in 2012.

BY Sunnivie Brydum

December 26 2012 5:00 AM ET

7. The GOP’s Presidential Homophobes
Looking to rile up the base in an election year, Republican presidential candidates doubled down on their homophobic rhetoric. Rick Santorum said it’s better for kids to have a father in jail than to be raised by a same-sex couple and that as president he would invalidate existing same-sex marriages. An indignant Rick Perry released an ad bemoaning the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The GOP ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan fell into lockstep on nearly every one of each other’s antigay positions: Both opposed marriage equality, opposed the repeal of DADT, vowed to keep the Defense of Marriage Act the law of the land, and opposed hate-crimes legislation. Romney said laws on job discrimination were best left to the states, and Ryan initially voted to kill the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, though he ultimately voted in favor of the as-yet unpassed legislation.