Nation IN BRIEF : GEORGIA : Gay Olympic Protest Is Called Blackmail

House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has joined a political debate over gay rights that is threatening to force the Olympic Summer Games out of a strongly Republican suburban community he represents in Congress. The conservative was quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as labeling attempts by gay activists to have the Olympics ousted from Cobb County, which lies just north of Atlanta, as “emotional blackmail.” Last summer, county officials approved a measure that sought to support traditional family values by condemning the homosexual lifestyle.