Rick Santorum, who on Saturday surged
past Ron Paul to a second place finish behind Mitt Romney in the
latest Des
Moines Register Iowa poll, has said he would annul all the
marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
During an NBC Nightly News segment
broadcast Friday, Santorum reiterated his support for an amendment to
the United States Constitution that would ban gay marriage, then
added that he would also annul all the marriages of gay couples who
were legally married.
When
Chuck Todd asked, “Do you think marriage is going to be a state
issue?” Santorum answered: “I think marriage has to be one thing
for everybody. We can't have 50 different marriage laws in this
country, you have to have one marriage law.”
“What would you do with same-sex
couples who got married?” Todd asked. “Would you make them get
divorced?”
“Well, their marriages would be
invalid. I think if the constitution says, 'Marriage is this,' then
people whose marriage is not consistent with the constitution.”
Santorum added that he wanted to be
“tolerant” but he could not ignore the “real consequences” of
marriage equality.
“Same-sex couples can contract for
just about everything that they privileges they get versus marriage
except direct government benefits.”
“Marriage … is a special
relationship. I can be your friend and that's a very good and
important relationship. … The love I have for my aunt is a very
important relationship. But it's not as important … for the health
of society of men and women coming together, joining together in
marriage, having children and raising those children for the future
of society.”