Rick Santorum is the first presidential
candidate to say he'll work to overturn New York's gay marriage law.
Without mentioning his name, the former
senator from Pennsylvania also took a swipe at Texas Governor Rick
Perry for supporting New York's right to approve the law, the Des
Moines Register reported.
Last week, Perry, who is often cited as
a possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate, said: “Our friends in
New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be
between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That's New
York, and that's their business, and that's fine with me.”
The governor added that he believes in
the 10th Amendment, but went on to call himself an
“unapologetic social conservative” and affirmed his opposition to
marriage equality.
Perry's views mirror those of Minnesota
Rep. Michele Bachmann, who opposes gay marriage but has affirmed her
support for states to decide the issue.
At a campaign stop in Ankeny, Iowa,
Santorum disagreed, telling a small crowd at a local restaurant that
New York's gay marriage law is “wrong.”
Santorum said gay marriage would lead
to kindergarten children being “inculcated with the state's idea of
what normal is.”
He added that marriage equality
“undermines a basic institution of society, it turns religious
liberty on its head, it turns the culture on its head, it turns the
education system on its head. It will undermine every basic
traditional value in this country.”
“For what purpose? For what real,
legitimate purpose? People can live whatever life they want to live.
No one in government is saying people can't live together,
cohabitate, contract for benefits, do whatever they want to do. But
that isn't enough. They have to have the word and with the word
comes a complete change in society.
“I am not, as some in this race have
said, OK with New York doing what they're doing. What New York did
was wrong. I will oppose it and I will go to New York, if necessary,
to help overturn it.”
“I'm for great latitude for the
states to do a lot, but not anything. And this idea that the 10th
Amendment means there is no boundary to what the states can do is a
misunderstanding of the 10th Amendment and I will stand on
that ground,” he added.