Rick Santorum on Monday faced hecklers
during a rally in Tacoma, Washington.
Santorum, a strong opponent of gay
marriage, arrived in Washington on the same day Governor
Chris Gregoire signed a gay marriage bill into law. He met
privately in Olympia with opponents
of the measure at a church.
During a press conference, he spoke out
against marriage equality, saying that as president he would push for
a federal amendment banning such unions.
“We have a serious issue about trying
to get moms and dads to marry and stay together,” he said, “and I
don't see this [legalizing gay marriage] as encouraging that.”
Occupy Wall Street protesters managed
to drown out Santorum at a rally at the Washington State History
Museum in Tacoma, where he condemned passage of the marriage law and
criticized a federal court's recent ruling declaring unconstitutional
California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
“I know this is a very important day
in Washington,” he
told the crowd. “And in many respects a sad day for many
people. We saw the law singed into here in Washington state. But it
is very important you understand what just happened in another place
… in the Ninth Circuit. … The Ninth Circuit decided that anybody
that disagrees with any of these folks, anyone who disagrees with
these folks when it comes to the issue of what marriage is in this
country, well they are irrational. That's what the Ninth Circuit
said. They said anybody who disagrees with their decision to shoot
down Prop 8 in California, they do so because they are irrational.”
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According to a San
Diego Gay & Lesbian News report, Gay USA's Kristina Lapinski
and Melanie Nathan yelled at the protesters, “The governor has
signed marriage equality in Washington today, tell Santorum gay
marriage is okay,” and the protesters began chanting, “Gay
marriage is okay.”
After Santorum left the podium, a
protester doused the candidate with glitter, known as a “glitter
bomb.”