Rick Santorum: Same Sex Relationships Don't 'Benefit Society'

Santorum on Friday doubled down on attacks against the gay community, telling a gay man that he doesn't deserve the 'privilege' of marriage because same sex relationships don't "benefit society."

"[Marriage] is an intrinsic good ... we extend certain privileges to people who do that because we want to encourage that behavior," he said after a gay audience member asked why homosexuals don't deserve equal rights when it comes to marriage.

"Two people who may like each other or may love each other who are same-sex, is that a special relationship? Yes it is, but it is not the same relationship that benefits society like a marriage between a man and a woman," Santorum continued.

His comments came at a campaign stop in Fulton, Missouri.

Santorum has been adamant his insistance that while the LGBT community should have equal rights, marriage is not a right. Last month, he said that he would invalidate gay marriages as president.

WATCH (courtesy of ThinkProgress):

Comments

[syrs842]

11:24 AM on 03/18/2012

Santorum on Friday doubled down on attacks against the gay community, telling a gay man that he doesn't deserve the 'privilege' of marriage because same sex relationships don't "benefit society." I would like for him to explain what privleges I have earned as a married woman. I don't fall under his criteria of a normal woman, nor do I fall under the criteria of a normal woman of the Catholic Church. I cannot have children. Isn't that one of his statements that he made, marriage is between a man and a woman and the purpose of that is to create life. Well I can't and didn't, does that make me any less of a human being than he? He needs to get out of peoples lives, take care of his own back yard and keep his eye on those adult daughters of his. It would be quite ironic if someday one of his kids come home and say daddy I'm gay, or daddy I'm pregnant.
What do you think he would do. I think he would throw them away like yesterdays trash.

[commentary42]

02:07 PM on 03/17/2012

No benefit to society? I guess what that is supposed to mean is that they don't directly give birth - even though many gay couples do have children of their own as well as adopting the unwanted. What is not debatable at all is that gay relationships are highly beneficial to the economy! Gay couple without children tend to have much more money for discretionary spending and they are a hot commodity for marketers. They also make huge contributions in most professions - not only only traditional business and professions such as healthcare professionals, but also in retail, design, architecture, food service...the list is endless. They tend to have higher levels of education and therefore contribute more in terms of the work they do and the taxes that they pay. Talking out of your hat again Rick?

[magnusalpha]

08:48 PM on 02/18/2012

I like Rick, his absurdist beliefs constantly provide amusement and bafflement to me and my friends.

[Lindsey Hitch]

08:55 PM on 02/14/2012

I still don't get what gives ANY OTHER AMERICAN the right to dictate what goes on in the personal life of ANY OTHER. Sometimes I wish Benjamin Franklin would swoop down from the heavens and smite today's politicians.

[Joe Villanova]

05:40 PM on 02/12/2012

‎"[Marriage] is an intrinsic good ... we extend certain privileges to people who do that because we want to encourage that behavior," he said. Notice the part that he says "we want"....uh-huuh...somebody needs to explain to me how people can't see that it is people like him that want to force his ideology down America's throat.

[Hal123321]

10:55 AM on 02/11/2012

Typical conservative problem. Yes, there was a time when more people were married ... but were they in fulfilling relationships or were they a part of a society in which marriage was a precondition for acceptance? Two men or two women can raise a child as well as some family from the 1950s and perhaps better for the simple is fact that they are living the lives they want to rather than suppressing what is natural for them because anything else is anomic.

[Jesop Ash]

07:15 PM on 02/12/2012

So you are suggesting that a healthy marriage culture does not in any way benefit society?

[magnusalpha]

08:49 PM on 02/18/2012

Huh? They said marriage culture is good. You're confused.

[bpmateyax1]

11:19 AM on 02/10/2012

As the saying goes Stupid people shouldn't breed and Santorum is one of those examples.

[lovingthismoment50]

06:53 PM on 02/08/2012

Rick Santorum is a curse on society.

[nyoped]

12:48 AM on 02/08/2012

Santorum test: "Would this right be considered to be a benefit to society by catholic clergy?"

[Darr Sandberg]

05:37 PM on 02/08/2012

I thought the Santorum test was about determining how well personal wipes work.

[SouthSideLib]

02:46 PM on 02/09/2012

That's both gross and hillarious.

[Educater27]

12:44 AM on 02/08/2012

I don't understand how gay marriage doesn't benefit society as they would have the same rights as a man and woman who were married. How does a heterosexual relationship benefit society, especially when it ends in divorce and the children being put in the middle of it? Any relationship can be beneficial to society whether between 2 men, a man and a woman or 2 women.

[Jesop Ash]

07:06 PM on 02/12/2012

Homosexual marriage only benefits Homosexuals. They must adopt/ third party fertilize in order to reproduce. This inherently alters the base family structure, which is the cornerstone of human existence. Gays need straits in order to even exist. Gay marriage is a new invention, both genders have always been involved regardless of permutation before now. this is radical social experimentation. And, the results take time, just look at Denmark. the marriage culture over there is declining at an alarming rate.

[mykelb]

12:02 AM on 02/13/2012

No more radical than all societies that came before the Christians that accepted LGBT and then when they got political power, murdered and killed others in the name of their deity.

[Lindsey Hitch]

08:49 PM on 02/14/2012

Do you even realize how irrational you sound?

[nyoped]

12:43 AM on 02/08/2012

I think Rick Santorum's parents relationship will cost our society a great deal if he becomes the president. However, I still support his parents' right to have a relationship.

[FormerReaganite]

11:12 PM on 02/07/2012

"Same Sex Relationships Don't 'Benefit Society' "

Hey Santorum:
Guns don't benefit society
Wars don't benefit society
TaxCutsForTheRich don't benefit society
PrisonerTorture doesn't benefit society
JobOutsoucing doesn't benefit society
UnionBusting doesn't benefit society
CorporateWelfare doesn't benefit society
UnplannedPregnancies don't benefit society

Rick Santorum cannot possibly benefit society

[Wayne Peterson]

10:40 PM on 02/07/2012

Santorum should be required to explain his position to the kids being raised in gay households. Rick, tell them they are less worthy of the security of married parents and the 1138 federal benefits that flow to "marriages" but not to civil unions. Tell them why their family must be second class citizens.Also, listen to them as they teach you the way out of your putrid bigotry.

[grapenephi]

10:13 PM on 02/07/2012

Some people may not like what Rick Santorum is saying, but it does represent what the majority of Americans believe and how they feel about the issue. That is a fact.

[FormerReaganite]

11:15 PM on 02/07/2012

Back in the early 19th century the same was said about slavery.

[Jesop Ash]

06:57 PM on 02/12/2012

So you want to equate one detrimental behavior with another and call the second ok? Homosexual behavior has no biological or survivalist benefit, none. And yet they want us to accept such a behavior as a lifestyle even though nobody even considered it so before Ulrich back on late 1800s Germany.

[nyoped]

12:46 AM on 02/08/2012

Why does not the majority mind its own business? If a two adult wants to marry they do not need the blessing of the majority.

[ChiefEditorPlus]

11:14 AM on 02/08/2012

Please learn proper grammar before you post.

[Jesop Ash]

06:58 PM on 02/12/2012

I don't need the blessing of the majority to disprove the current culture on this issue. History and facts, look them up.

[labourday]

09:57 PM on 02/07/2012

Only a Socialist would be interested in a law's "benefits to society", no?

[SeovyeQuirsefron]

02:35 AM on 02/08/2012

You couldn't be more wrong.