Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for
president, said on Thursday that he opposes gay marriage because
trees are not cars.
Santorum made his remarks during an
interview with the Iowa
Independent.
When the paper asked Santorum how the
marriages of gay and lesbian couples affect the marriages of
heterosexual couples, he likened heterosexual marriage to a tree.
“Because it changes the definition of
an intrinsic element of society in a way that minimizes what that
bond means to society.”
“Marriage is what marriage is.
Marriage was around before government said what it was.”
“It's like going out and saying,
'That tree is a car.' Well, the tree's not a car. A tree's a tree.
Marriage is marriage.”
“You can say that tree is something
other than it is. It can redefine it. But it doesn't change the
essential nature of what marriage is.”
“Marriage is a union between a man
and a woman for the purposes of the benefit of both the man and the
woman, a natural unitive according to nature, unitive, that is for
the purposes of having and rearing children and for the benefit of
both the man and the woman involved in that relationship.”
“And for the benefit of society
because we need to have stable families of men and woman bonded
together to raise children. That's what marriage is.”
“You can say two people who love each
other is marriage. But then why limit it to just two people? Why
not three people? Why not 10 people?”
“If it's just about love and
everybody needs to be treated equally, then why not 10? Why not
allowing nieces and aunts to marry? Why not? If marriage means
anyone who is in love, well, then, let everybody who is in love get
married. But it's not what marriage is.”
“Marriage has an intrinsic value to
society, and when you cheapen it by saying anybody in any
relationship is the same, it's not. So you undermine the institution
No. 1. No. 2, you're gonna undermine religious liberty in this
country. We're seeing it already.”
“Anybody who does not recognize what
the state says is good and right is a bigot. We don't give licenses
for adoptions to organizations that won't do gay adoptions because
they're bigots. And a lot of those are faith-based organizations.”
“Will we go into pulpits and tell
preachers they can't preach that gay marriage is wrong? Well maybe
not right away but maybe tax-exempt status is next.”
“There's a conflict here because
we've created something that is not what it is.”
“As a result of that it will have a
huge impact on people's religious freedom. You see it in every
country that has adopted it already.”
“It will also have the impact of
changing our educational structure. You're seeing that already, too,
where young children are being indoctrinated as to what normal is.”
“Now normal is what the law is.”
“So now we’re going to see all
sorts of information provided to children against their parents' will
because the state says it's so. It's coercion as opposed to the
collective morality of what the American public wants, and that's
what I’ve been fighting for.”
Santorum has previously said he opposes
gay marriage because paper
towels are not napkins, and he has blamed
the economic downturn on the institution.