Rick Santorum thinks that there’s no difference between homosexuality and incest. Lovely.
Former US Senator Rick Santorum made the headlines in Iowa last night as he became the Republican grassroots new “anyone but Romney” candidate in the race for the GOP nomination for the White House, so it’s now worth giving a closer look to Rupert Murdoch’s favourite candidate.
Prior to his presidential run, Santorum was most widely noted for his astonishingly regressive views on homosexuality. Famously in 2003, he shared his views on what homosexuality has in common on the one hand with incest and on the other with bestiality.
The snippet gained notoriety because of the fact that he compares “man-on-dog” to gay relationships, but the full quote is almost worse:
“If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything… It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution…
“You say, well, it’s my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that’s antithetical to strong healthy families…
“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. It is one thing.”
Santorum is also the candidate who criticised the NHS for causing the fall of the British Empire, liberalism for leading to the Catholic Church’s sex scandal, and the Bush government’s No Child Left Behind act for not mandating the teaching of intelligent design in science lessons.
How delightful.
See also:
• Sign up to our new weekly email on US 2012 and election news from across the globe, The World Outside Westminster
• After Iowa: Bloodied Romney on course for nomination as Obama smiles – Marcus Roberts, January 4th 2012
• Iowa 2012: Meet the candidates – Chris Tarquini, January 3rd 2012
• Romney remains least risible Republican candidate for another week – Alex Hern, November 14th 2011
• Republican elephants enter the room as rivals to Obama – Dominic Browne, May 26th 2011
22 Responses to “Santorum: The candidate the right loves because he hates gay people”
Anonymous
So if he’s democratically elected, he has a mandate to implement his manifesto.
Not particularly pleasant is it.
That’s why government is the problem not the solution.
Labour needs to learn that lesson.
It’s quite prepared to legislate on behaviour in the UK, so long its the one dictating.
However, when Romney says he will dictate on behaviour, according to his view, its wrong.
You’re just a hypocrite.
Governments should not legistlate on any such matters.
Kevin McNamara
you type this as if you’re a very progressive labourite and he is just a foolish conservative.
and yet the only things you challenge are his homophobia. speaking as a gay man myself, on what grounds is homosexuality or so-called gay marriage morally superior to incest (where no-one is harmed), polygamy, polyandry, so on and so forth?
Thorgreir
there’s no mention about moral or ethics in the article……
anyway, marriage used to be on a consensual basis. I don’t see the mean incest should be considered consensual too. no way mate
Richard Angell
@RichardAngell The new 'voice of Republican Grassroots' Rick Santorum compared LGBT2incest&adultery: http://t.co/LuXXG37o on @leftfootfwd
Frank Hont
RT @leftfootfwd: Santorum: The candidate the right loves http://t.co/CpmhAAmW – how come a big,diverse country even has him in the race?