Back in 2003 Rick Santorum, then about halfway through his tenure as Pennsylvania’s U.S. senator, argued if the Supreme Court overturned sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas, it would mean the court also “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. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does.” But now that he’s thinking about challenging Barack Obama to become emperor of America, it appears his stance might be softening. Writing yesterday in the Des Moines Register, Santorum is making a stab at softening his reputation as the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.
“Let me first define what we are not talking about,” Santorum writes. “I believe if two adults of the same sex want to have a relationship that is their business. But when they ask society to give that relationship special recognition and privileges, then we should be able to have a rational debate about whether that is good public policy.”
Which means Rick is finally going to put his stamp of approval on your bedroom activities (probably so long as you don’t try rubbing your anal wipes in his face). But not your right to get married, WHICH OTHER PEOPLE WILL TOTALLY KNOW ABOUT.
Pete
Wrong, Santorum. Gays don’t want “special rights”. They want EQUAL RIGHTS.
Harbo
Rick Sattorum is an idiot. He still doesn’t get it!!!!!!!
Scribe
I hope he wins the republican nomination. This idiot will hand Barack the election.
christopher di spirito
Who cares? Santorum is yesterday’s news. What he says, thinks, or where he’s appearing, is just irrelevant to me.
The one we should be watching is newly elected Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Many political scientists and cable yappers says he’s the handsome face of a new, younger generation of wingers who may carry the US’s enormous Hispanic community in a national race.
He’s also vehemently anti-gay.
Cam
Oh Please, the crazy righties have just seen the vilification that has been heaped on the Westborough Baptist church and they are trying to distance themselves in a small way.
Don’t be fooled, there is no difference between Westboro and somebody like Santorum or Carrie Prejean. All of them do not want us to have rights. Two of them simply come in a quieter and better dressed package.
Oprah
A good looking metrosexual like this republican who is voiceferously against homo anal sex tells me the dude has a deep denial issue. Can someone please research his college days?? I will bet you hundreds this idiot has had sex with men in college.Oh better yet, check his computer porn files. LOOOL
justiceontherocks
@Oprah: The rumor in DC is that someone asked him if he knew the difference between a big Mac and a blowjob. Santorum said no, and the guy asked him if he wanted to go to lunch.
That’s just a rumor though.
reason
@christopher di spirito: Santorum is a relevant figure if he is running for president, if the GOP could nominate Sharon Angle or Christine O’donnell for senator Santorum is not out of the realm of possibility. Two years ago I would have said no way, and my gut feeling still says no way but the GOP of late has sailed outside the realm of sanity. Regardless it is important that social issue are brought to the fore in the GOP nomination, not only becuase it will drive them off their fake jobs message, but becuase even though some are suggesting they be quite on the issue their views are still the same. If they managed to get into office as has already played out after the midterm, all those issues come racing to the surface. You can have a quiet racist, but that doesn’t change the fact that when an individual of the race they hate shows up they won’t hire them, give them a terrible review, or do everything they can to destroy them regardless of their qualifications. Better to know that the GOP is not decent then to mistakenly vote for someone who will destroy you as soon as the opportunity arises. So far, we have been lucky that the GOP’s hatred is so out of control that they can’t keep the lid on for 2 months let alone for two years.
Marco Rubio is a dangerous figure that might end up in a vice presidential slot, while that maybe worrisome you have to give voters some credit. Sarah Palin showed up and Obama still took Women, I think that it’s probable that he will still take the majority of Hispanics regardless if the GOP puts a Hispanic on the ticket. People like to bring up the African American support but they like Jews have always been solidly democratic, or more correctly espoused the core values of liberal democrats, he may have motivated more to show up but it was not like they were going against their own belief system. You also have to factor that 10-20% of the GOP base, probably closer to the former, that will never vote for a Hispanic. That could provide the firewall in close southern states like Virgina, North Carolina, and yes South Carolina.
Scott Bonzitski
Just the sound of his name makes me want to run and have sex! (We men DO think about more than women…) Except I would NOT be thinking about him!!! SB
Tommy Marx
So Santorum admits that heterosexual couples get “special recognition and privileges” that homosexual couples are denied?
Steve
Gay people want marriage. Not SPECIAL marriage, but the same kind that straight people get. So fuck you Santorum.
Scott Bonzitski
Santorum sounds too much like “sanatorium” for me to even take this person seriously!…[in which ALOT of political people these days belong…] SB
Xerxes
Santorum should quit politics and just do enema commercials.
Soupy
Keep clicking on the google link that takes you to the Dan Savage definition. That will allow it to continue being the first site up for a search on his name.
Cam
Weird, this guy’s name sounds a lot like the word used to discribe the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the biproduct of anal sex.
Baxter
Santorum has exactly zero chance of being the Republican nominee and probably won’t even run. I don’t know why you give space to these completely irrelevant people. It’s the same thing with Sarah Palin: she’s not going to run for president, she doesn’t actually do anything, but the media can’t stop talking about her. Maybe there’s some sort of secret unholy alliance there.
TMikel
What a complete dolt! The LGBT community is NOT asking for SPECIAL recognition; we merely want the same recognition that the breeders get. He has not changed on iota. He just wants people to think he has.
Drake
Santorum’s new campaign wig and hair color smell santorumy.
Stanley
One of my neighbor’s cousins worked for Sen. Rick Santorum in Washington DC, when he was a senator from PA, and my neighbor’s cousin had nothing but praise for Rick Santorum. Santorum is proud to stand for traditional family values. If that’s not your thing, that’s fine, but don’t malign someone’s character simply because they don’t agree with your political views.
Yes, Sen. Rick Santorum may have used an unfortunate choice of words back in 2003, but he appears to have at least moderated his remarks. Instead of meeting Mr. Santorum half-way, you continue to attack him and a prominent gay activist has created a website dedicated to creating & promoting an alternate meaning of the word “Santorum.”
What would you be saying if some Republicans & conservatives created new definitions & meanings for “Barney Frank” and other gay & lesbian political figures, just to attack their character? Would you be chuckling with glee then?
I don’t think so. Basically, gay liberals can dish it out to conservatives, but they can’t take it. Attack any gay liberal, and you will be called “bigot”, “homophobe”, “anti-gay” etc. But it’s perfectly fine to attack George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, or any Republican figure.
Shannon1981
@Stanley: Thats because Santorum,Palin, and Bush and thier ilk ARE bigots.
This man is insane. Just someone else who can’t see how wrong he is. The same rights does not mean we want SPECIAL RIGHTS. We just want EQUAL rights. I’d like to research his past too….see how many dicks he sucked under the guise of being a drunk frat boy back in the day…
Atomicrob
I don’t give adman about what Santorum thinks about anything. He is the worst kind of homophobe.
Atomicrob
I don’t give a damn about what Santorum thinks about anything. He is the worst kind of homophobe, and to give these type of bigots a voice in government that controls the lives of millions of people is extremely unwise. DO NOT vote for this man!
reason
@Stanley: You have to look no further than your pal Limbaugh for someone maligning Barney Frank. Also, there is a big difference between attacking someone for an immutable characteristic vs. attacking their actions. Stating that Obama has an anti-colonial world view or is not a traditional American (attacking his heritage) or saying “Barney F*g” on the radio is very different for criticizing someone for their actions (Bush) or their grossly uneducated stances (Palin). Unless you believe that stupidity is immutable you don’t have much of an argument.
Santorum isn’t meeting anyone halfway, during 2010/2011 he made it unequivocally clear that he doesn’t support gays in the military, civil unions, and hate crimes legislation for starters. Furthermore, Santorum’s published congressional record on gay rights is nothing short of a tragedy in high definition. Bruce Carroll the GOP’s lapdog over at GoProud of course scampered to Santorum’s aide professing his fealty to his masters and absolving Santorum of homophobia. Lets see, what am I going to believe? Lapdog or record and current statements? Obama is slipping past the meet halfway mark, Santorum merely donned a different color hood.
adman
@Stanley: Big crocodile tears for you, I know we’ve hurt you, and made you feel that small feeling inside. Like the time when mommy caught you rocking back and forth while rubbing mr. widget in her new pumps. I want we, the LGBT gay community to stand down. Yes, I’d like us to reconsider our tactics of wicked mayhem we’ve thus far used to lay waste to Republicans. No more getting you fired from your jobs, gossiping and slandering you while we claim the effortless win for popularity that being gay affords us so easily over the Hetero wingers among us in the USA.
If I start another mob to steal your livelihood, follow you home from the club and bash you while enjoying my special gay rights WHILE YOU BLEED IN TERROR, your dignity as a human being questioned by the courts, cops, and the rest of us gays, I swear to you now, Stanley, I’ll renounce my rights as a decent human being. It would be un-American to take any other course of action, I see that now. With regret and longing for a more traditional family values future for you, I hang my head and beg your forgiveness.
Abel
For a truly bizarre fact about Rick Santorum, read the article about him on Wikipedia, the section titled “Family.” It’s short and revelatory and deeply disturbing.
robert in NYC
So what’s he going to do about straight couples who engage in anal sex? Has it not occurred to him that millions of them do, even those who are married? What next, ban them from marrying? What a jackass. The more these morons open their mouths spewing this nonsense to gay bait, the more they polarize the GOP.
Jeffree
@RobertInNYC: Santorum serves as a lightning rod. The people who believe we can roll back morality to the 1950s and keep teh ghey from spreading may want him to seek office. However I believe and hope there are more people who want to focus on the economy & jobs, and they may get tired of guys like Santorum who just keep talking about social issues.
I wonder when the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan will start to be a focus of the debate. So far I’m not seeing much discussion there by Dems or Repubs.
Oprah
Guys you know–we have to be thankful that we live in a country where a person like ‘Santorum’ WILL NEVER stand a chance to become the president. We have to be really grateful that America voting system demands at least someone be ‘mainstream’ politically correct person. Helleluya! LOL
Soupy
I’m deeply shocked that you don’t support him Oprah. You both consider homosexuality a sin. Get behind him. And what you do there, behind him, is your business.
Zach
If you want to engage in consensual sex, with more than one person or even with family, it’s no one’s business to tell you you can’t. Distasteful =/= immoral. “Society” is just a network of individuals.
Furthermore, gays never asked for “special” recognition- that’s what breeder couples get. Marriage is no dominion of the state.
DJ
This people really confuse me. Why are they focused on sex as opposed to love? MARRIAGE IS BASED ON LOVE NOT SEX. It shouldn’t matter what people do in private. And anal sex isn’t anything like polygamy so how can he even compare those two? It’s like these people choose to acknowledge that gay couples have the ability to love one another.
Drake
@Stanley:
Stanley, take your pro-Santorum agenda and stuff it up your ass dearie. Anyone who tries to become a national “leader” by fighting against any minority’s civil rights has dingleberries for a brain, like you.
Matt
Someone should check out this guys computers… sounds like this congressman wants to hear it is OK if he is a child molestor… wants to get approval to be the real fruit cake. Just another closeted freak that is afraid his secretes will fall out before he is elected.
FlameoftheWest
Rick Santorum is a disgusting piece of shit and I can predict the future, he will not be president in 2013.