Longtime social conservative Newt Gingrich has made a surprising admission, saying he accepts marriage equality as inevitable and he’s OK with it

It's a surprising turnabout for the former House speaker, who just this year said same-sex marriage was a "pagan" concept and a "violation of our civilization."

Voters’ legalization of same-sex marriage in three states in November’s election changed the debate over the issue, and conservatives have to come to terms with it, the former House speaker and Republican presidential aspirant told The Huffington Post. “It is in every family,” he said. “It is in every community. The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to ... accommodate and deal with reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states — and it will be more after 2014 — gay relationships will be legal, period.”