Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) claimed during a radio interview this week that anti-gay marriage business owners are being sent to “re-education camps” for refusing to serve gay customers.
“You now see situations with bakers and florists and photographers who are being forced to provide services for same-sex weddings or get fined, lose their business,” Santorum said during the appearance on the American Family Association’s “Focal Point” radio program on Monday. “In the case of Colorado, there was a Colorado case recently where someone had to go to a re-education camp if you will. And the amazing thing is that in Colorado gay marriage isn’t even legal!"
Santorum appeared on the program in order to promote his new movie on the persecution of Christians in America.
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled in May that Christian baker Jack Phillips' refusal in 2012 to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple on religious grounds violated the state's anti-discrimination laws.
The panel also ordered Phillips to submit quarterly reports for two years, outlining how he implemented new business policies, including anti-discrimination training for the staff.
“They are fighting, they are fighting, they are not backing away, they are coming at us,” Santorum, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, added in the interview. He also urged conservatives to emulate the relentlessness of “liberal lawyer organizations” fighting for LGBT rights.
“When you look at the conservative side, how many people do you hear right now saying, 'We lost the marriage issue, it's time to move on, we can't win.' And we haven’t even lost yet and the majority of Americans still believe in marriage, and yet our side is willing to fold our tent and go away,” Santorum continued. “We have to understand that this is a war, and if we don’t engage in this war we will lose this war.”
Last week, Santorum also expressed regret over his 2002 endorsement of U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III, who struck struck down Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban in May.
“We’re all entitled to a mistake,” Santorum said on Friday.
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