On the third day of his campaign to win
the 2012 GOP nomination for president, Rick Santorum returned to
familiar territory: gay marriage.
When CNN's John King asked Santorum if
as president he would back a federal amendment banning gay marriage,
the former senator dived head first into a nearly 2-minute rant on
the subject.
“I support a constitutional amendment
to ban same-sex marriage,” Santorum told King. “I think that
marriage should be a consistent thing across the country. Marriage
is the union of one man and one woman. It's essential for the
family. It's essential for the stability of our culture to make sure
that children are given the best hope, which is a mom and dad. And
if we lower our sights for those children we're robbing children of –
many children – of the potential of having a mom and a dad by
changing the standard of what society believes in.”
“I think that's important. And I
also think its important from the standpoint of religious liberty and
the standpoint of what our children are going to be taught in
school.”
“Every time this issue has come up on
the ballot – California to Maine – people have said, 'Well this
is going to pass.' In places like this, polls show people very much
in favor of changing the traditional marriage definition, and it's
lost every time. Why? Because once people realize the consequence
to society of changing this definition – it's not that we're
against anybody. People can live the life they want to live. They
can do whatever they want to do in the privacy of their home with
respect to that activity. But now you're talking about changing the
laws of the country and it's going to have a profound impact on
society, on faith, on education. And once people realize that, they
say, 'You know what, we respect people's right to live the life they
want to lead, but don't try to fundamentally change how society
functions by changing that definition.'” (The video is embedded in
the right panel of this page.)
In launching his official presidential
bid, Santorum said people would respect him because he's remained
true to what he believes. That, ostensibly, includes his opposition
to gay and lesbian couples marrying.