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.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)

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.”