Rick Santorum Blasts Gay Marriage Supporters, Defends Support For Anti-Sodomy Laws

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum touted his support for anti-sodomy laws and said gay marriage supporters wanted to "drive faith out of the public square" in an interview with controversial preacher Bradlee Dean, founder of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, a Christian punk-rock youth ministry based in Minnesota.

"And I stood up from the very beginning back in 2003 when the Supreme Court was going create a constitutional right to sodomy and said this is wrong we can't do this," said Santorum, according to the Minnesota Independent. "And so I stood up when no one else did and got hammered for it. I stood up and I continue to stand up."

In 2003, then-Sen. Santorum (R-Pa.) defended anti-sodomy laws in an interview with the Associated Press because "they were there for a purpose." He added, in a quote that became infamous, "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." Santorum then developed a "Google problem" with the highest search results for his name linking back to a page created by gay rights activist and author Dan Savage associating his name with a sexual neologism.

Santorum later wrote in a 2003 USA Today op-ed, "the greatest near-term consequence of the Lawrence v. Texas anti-sodomy ruling could be the legalization of homosexual marriage." The Court struck down a Texas anti-sodomy statute, overruling a 1986 ruling upholding a similar Georgia statue.

"This is not about gay marriage, it is about changing what is right and wrong and fundamentally changing what people of faith can say and do in society," said Santorum to Dean. "The ultimate objective here is to drive faith out of the public square, to drive morality out of the laws of this country, to secularize our society with a different set of values."

Santorum said recently that he would "die on that hill" fighting same-sex marriage. He has polled in low single-digits nationally in recent Republican primary polls.

Dean himself has made numerous controversial comments about homosexuality, including saying executing homosexuals is moral and alleging that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington wanted to make homosexuality illegal.

 

 

Comments

[Lady1genius]

07:39 AM on 11/17/2011

Someone needs to tell Ricky that this is already a secular country and always has been, Someone needs to tell Ricky that we aren't so much concerned with "driving religion out of the public square" as keeping religion out of our bedrooms, where it has absolutely NO BUSINESS.
Personally I have no problem with (for example) a manger scene in a public park, so long as all other religions are also permitted public displays. We all know that wouldn't work, as the entire park would be filled with religious symbols. So therefore we're stuck with just banning all of them, which I also don't object to.
Someone needs to tell Ricky that we don't care how he chooses to lead his life. He needs to stay the hell out of how others choose to lead theirs. I never saw someone so totally consumed with what people do in their own bedroom, and when and how they choose to procreate. This is an unhealthy obsession and he needs a psychiatrist.

[Bob Kellerman]

03:40 AM on 11/05/2011

WHY DOES THIS MISERABLE EXCRETION OF A SEMI-HUMAN

GET COVERAGE HERE?

[Bruce Sutka]

11:03 PM on 11/02/2011

He mentions "hammering" .........maybe he'd like a little himself.

[JWoode]

09:54 PM on 11/02/2011

I guess I completely missed where this guy was running for president.. he seems a tad wingnutty.. is he any good?

[jsimpy]

02:14 PM on 11/14/2011

Ask his boyfriend.

[lacrosselamore]

11:24 AM on 10/29/2011

"The ultimate objective here is to drive faith out of the public square, to drive morality out of the laws of this country, to secularize our society with a different set of values."

And Santorums' objective is to impose his faith on people who do not share it, impose an objective opinion on what constitutes morality by force of civil law, and to religiousize our society with his set of values.
That is "Santorums' Agenda" an it is unconstitutional.

[relentless63]

02:00 PM on 10/28/2011

Santorum’s certainty is that going to church is the same as going to congress, that his particular faith is faith particular to everyone. Contrary to his opinion, the head of the church is not the head of the state and they have very separate functions.

[Jaack McMahon]

08:44 AM on 10/27/2011

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. Mr. Santorum is a mean-spirited individual who is trying to be self-important.Santorum says that "The ultimate objective here is to drive faith out of the public square, to drive morality out of the laws of this country, to secularize our society with a different set of values." We, America, is and remains a SECULAR society. If it were not, then a theocracy would take over. Then the battle of religions would be OUT, so to speak. Do you want to live in a mirror of IRAN? Morality is mistakenly equated with religion. Mankind's morality has been constantly been evolving. Being a communist was considered to be beyond immoral,but communism is a failed experiment in a form of government. The death penalty is considered by so much of the world to be immoral, yet some states still executes prisoners. Use of marijuana was considered to be immoral, yet some states have made it a medicine other countries have decriminalized it completely. America is the richest country on earth yet our own citizens still go hungry. Where is the morality? In America, morality is bought and sold daily.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. The homosexual demonizing is such a marginalizing issue, but is nothing new to Rick Santorum. He has a fixation on homosexuality. Other than, this he has no message worthy of consideration. Love not hate will prevail. So says Buddha and Jesus

[practiceempathy]

01:10 PM on 10/27/2011

Stop bullying the honorable Mr. Santorum. He is the true victim here.

[snark]

[latinguytony]

09:35 PM on 10/27/2011

Ms Santorum is SO against homosexuality that I will NOT be surprised at ALL when it comes to light that this man is probably a 'homosexual' himself. Time and again ALL those who preach,advocate and/or otherwise SCREAM against it, in the end we find out that they are the BIGGEST gays ever. I challenge whoever is this mans lover/boyfriend etc etc come OUT and say that he is a BIG fraud !!

[WheelsOnFire]

08:13 AM on 10/27/2011

Unemployment remains above 9% (and the real rate is much higher).

National debt is continuing to grow and threaten the viability of this country.

This country will be unable to meet the commitments it has made to its citizens.

Yet what is Santorum focused on?

Preventing Steve from marrying Keith.

Question for you, Santorum -- How would life in the Unites States be so egregiously harmed if lots of Steves married lots of Keiths?

Answer -- Not at all. Legalized gay marriage in The Netherlands more than a decade ago has had no economic or moral impact on that country. Ditto Canada (which is actually in better shape economically than the US). Ditto Belgium. Even ditto individual states like Massachusetts, where gay marriage has been legal for more than 7 years.

So, where's the harm, Santorum?

Why is this so important to you -- more important than economic and financial problems that are the issues that truly trouble most Americans?

[practiceempathy]

01:12 PM on 10/27/2011

The answer is "magic."

If gays marry God's magical wrath will destroy the nation.

These greedy SOBs have us already lined up to be scapegoats for THEIR destruction of the country.

[RhynoH]

11:02 AM on 10/28/2011

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"

[lacrosselamore]

11:12 AM on 10/29/2011

LOL. The Netherlands is a perfect place to throw in their faces. If god is all powerful and punnishes non-believing Nations with economic crisis, wars, crime and social disintegration, explaun The Netherlands, the most Secular Nation on Earth. Where the people enjoy one of the highest standard of living, have the longest life expectancy and have one of the lowest crime rates on the planet.

[WheelsOnFire]

08:02 AM on 10/27/2011

So Santorum is all agitated about faith being driven out of the public square.

No, there is no movement to do that.

However, faith is doing it to itself -- by continuing to adhere to outdated and discriminatory notions. Remember, it was faith that said that our sun revolves around the earth -- and it was that same faith that was used to prosecute Galileo for heresy for saying otherwise.

As for secularizing our society -- well, yeah. No religion is to have any control over our government or society.

As for "driving morality out of the laws of this country" and imbuing our society "with a different set of values" well, yeah, this country is driving out Rick's perverted sense of morality and is replacing it with a better set of values -- values that are more aligned with this country's founding beliefs. Those values include freedom, equality, and liberty.

Rick wants the US to be his personal theocracy.

The majority in this country want to preserve our founding principles of personal freedom and liberty for all.

[clivechristy]

07:57 AM on 10/27/2011

Rick is fascinated by gay people...it would seem in a very very unhealthy way. I have always said, if you don't like gay marriage, don't marry a gay person...but if gay people want to marry what business is it of mine, or Rick?

[tploomis]

02:10 AM on 10/27/2011

Santorum just can't pull his mind away from certain ideas. He's obsessed and out of control.

[EllisJ]

06:34 PM on 10/26/2011

This guy is a PERVERT!!

[JuniorBug]

11:56 PM on 10/26/2011

It's that simple. Fanned and faved.

[lacrosselamore]

02:53 AM on 10/27/2011

But Pat Robertson has the most perverted mind of all - google "Pat Robertson sex with a duck".
These people are seriously in need of psycuatric evaluation.

[lthor]

04:00 PM on 10/26/2011

"And so I stood up when no one else did and got hammered for it. I stood up and I continue to stand up."
And you will continue to get hammered! We don't need his religion in our politics. No offense to the religious out there.

[James Haun]

03:32 PM on 10/26/2011

"Santorum said recently that he would "die on that hill" fighting same-sex marriage."

wouldn't it be better if he lived to see tolerance and acceptance win...and for it to torment him for the rest of his years?

[bluntobject]

02:44 AM on 10/27/2011

What you want to bet....as soon as Gay Marriage is law, Ricky will come out...

[lacrosselamore]

02:54 AM on 10/27/2011

Hmmm. That's a tough one. Please allow him to suffer while I make up my mind.

[James Haun]

03:30 PM on 10/26/2011

"The ultimate objective here is to drive faith out of the public square, to drive morality out of the laws of this country, to secularize our society with a different set of values."

~ correct on first assertion as faith is a private matter and if you were meaning to say 'out of government' which is what I think you were circling - you know faith has NO place in our government

~ second idea is rubbish because moral and legal are ideas in completely different spheres

~ third - why are you opposed to a secular government...that is what it is and has been for a mighty long time.