Former Republican U.S. Senator and 2012 and 2016 U.S. Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is opposed to homosexuality, seeing it as antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family. Santorum does not believe the right to privacy under the United States Constitution covers sexual acts, and criticized the US Supreme Court ruling in the case of Lawrence v. Texas that ruled to the contrary. Santorum has stated that the U.S. military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which ended in 2011, should be reinstated and has voiced his opposition to same-sex parenting. Santorum's views provoked criticism from Democratic politicians and other groups, but have been supported by some conservative Christians.
2003 interview
When asked for his position on the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in 2003, Santorum said that the scandal involved priests and post-pubescent men in "a basic homosexual relationship" (rather than child sexual abuse), which led the interviewer to ask if homosexuality should be outlawed.
Santorum then brought up the then-pending U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, which challenged a Texas sodomy law, and said that "he did not have a problem with homosexuals, but a problem with homosexual acts", "the right to privacy doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution", and "sodomy laws properly exist to prevent acts which undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family."
When asked "if somebody is homosexual, you would argue that they should not have sex?" Santorum stated:
The AP also quoted Santorum as saying, "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual 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." and "Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, whether it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family."
In response to attacks from WorldNetDaily, the interviewer made a recording of the interview available. The AP released a transcript it described as "an unedited section" of the interview on April 23.
Public reaction
Santorum's comments evoked responses ranging from George W. Bush's remark, relayed through spokesperson Ari Fleischer, that "the President believes that the senator is an inclusive man", to sharp criticism from former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean that "gay-bashing is not a legitimate public policy discussion; it is immoral", to conservative groups such as the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America who came to Santorum's defense.
Dean called on Santorum, "to resign from his post as Republican Conference chairman." Other Democratic politicians who responded included Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who remarked that Santorum's comments were "out of step with our country's respect for tolerance". The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee demanded that Santorum resign as chairman of the Republican Senate Caucus. Brad Woodhouse of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called the comments, "divisive, hurtful and reckless." Santorum faced criticism for his comments from Republican Senators including Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, and Gordon H. Smith. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona stated, "I think that he may have been inartful in the way that he described it."