Former Rick Santorum aide Robert Traynham has defended his old boss's anti-gay rhetoric.

Traynham, who was outed as gay in 2005, appeared on Thursday's episode of MSNBC's Hardball.

In discussing Santorum's 2003 controversial remarks linking gay sex to “man on dog,” Traynham insisted that Santorum's only disagreement was with giving gay couples the right to marry.

“Doesn't he go further and say that you should not be allowed to be gay in any actual way?” host Chris Matthews asked.

“Oh absolutely not. No. Absolutely not,” Traynham responded

“I worked for him for ten years. I was openly out to him. I never, ever heard him say anything remotely like that at all,” he said.

Traynham added that the gay community was opposed to Santroum because “he speaks passionately about the fact that he believes gays and lesbians should not marry. He believes in the sanctity of marriage. He believes that marriage should be defined by one man and one woman. And that's obviously something that runs counter to folks that are like me who happen to fall in love with someone of the same sex. That is a major, major disagreement that a lot of gays and lesbians feel toward Senator Santorum.”

Traynham added that he does not know Santorum's position on gay and bisexual troops serving openly in the military. Santorum has said that he would work to reinstate “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” if elected president.

And he told CNN anchor John King this week that gay people should remain celibate.