Rick Santorum has said gay men and
lesbians have equal rights.
After receiving on Tuesday the personal
endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family
Leader, Santorum appeared on Fox News' On The Record With Greta
Van Susteren.
Vander Plaats is best known for leading
last year's successful campaign to oust three of the seven Iowa
Supreme Court judges who overturned the state's ban on gay marriage
in 2009.
Santorum, along with Minnesota Rep.
Michele Bachmann and Texas Governor Rick Perry, signed the group's
controversial 14-point anti-gay marriage pledge.
Each presidential candidate was asked
to “vigorously” oppose marriage equality, be faithful to his or
her own spouse, vow to protect women and children from pornography
and reject Sharia law because it is a “form of totalitarian
control.”
The pledge ironically asks candidates
to have “respect for the marital bonds of others” in a state
where gay marriage is legal and footnotes to the document suggest
that being gay is a choice that may have a negative impact on public
health.
On the program, host Greta Van Susteren asked
Santorum how he planned to get the gay vote.
“How can you convince them that
despite, you know, your views and [Vander Plaats'] views, that you
could – I mean, is there any way that you could convince them to
vote for you?”
“Well, look, I have nothing against
gay people,” Santorum responded. “They have rights of every
other citizen. But what they did in Iowa and what some are trying to
do, not all gays, but some are trying to do is change the laws of
this country with respect to what the definition of marriage is.”
“If there are differences, I'm
certainly going to speak out on those differences when I think it's
in the best interest of our country to have laws that reflect having
men and women raise children and form solid marriage bonds,” he
added. (Watch video of the exchange at ThinkProgress.org.)