Rick and Karen Santorum on Monday
insisted that the GOP presidential candidate loves gay people.
Mrs. Santoroum joined her husband at a
town hall at the Fresh Brewed Coffee House in Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina.
When a woman told the couple that she
struggled with her support for Mr. Santorum's presidential ambitions
because her gay son hears that he hates gay people, Mrs. Santorum
insisted that that was false and described gay activists as bullies.
(Related: Mitt
Romney most trusted on gay marriage; Rick Santorum up 10 points.)
“I think it's very sad what the gay
activists have done out there,” Mrs. Santorum said. “They've
vilified him and it's so wrong. Rick does not hate anyone. He loves
them. What he has simply said is marriage shouldn't happen. But as
far as hating, it's very unfortunate that that has happened. And a
lot of it is backyard bullying.”
“This is a public policy difference,”
Mr. Santorum said. “And the problem is that some see that as a
personal assault.”
Mr. Santorum went on to suggest that
gay marriage deprives children of a mother or a father.
“If we don't hold that [heterosexual
marriage] up as something that society is for and encouraging and
promoting, then we will get less of it. And then we will be in a
sense denying children what is best for them. We shouldn't be a
society that denies our children and our future what's best for
them.”
He went on to describe gay unions as
friendships.
“There's all sorts of other
relationships that people have, and they are valuable relationships –
whether they are amorous relationships or friendship relationships or
familial relationships – they're all important, they all have
value, they all should be affirmed. But that does not mean that we
should change the laws to … create an atmosphere where children and
families are not being promoted.” (The video is embedded in the
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