Republican presidential candidate Rick
Santorum on Tuesday claimed that Massachusetts schools promote gay
families, but not heterosexual marriages.
Appearing on Boston Herald Live,
Santorum lamented the increasing number of single parent households,
which he linked to gay-inclusive books in schools and supposed school
policies against books about families led by opposite-sex married
couples.
“I know in the schools in
Massachusetts, in the grade school, they teach – there are books in
place that say 'Suzy has two moms.' It's okay to put a book that
says ‘Suzy has two moms’ but you can't put a book in there saying
that moms and dads and marriage is important and tell people how
important it is to be married before you have children, then you're
moralizing,” Santorum
said. “It’s okay to say, ‘Suzy has two moms’ or ‘Johnny
has two dads,” but you can’t say that marriage is an important
part of having a stable and healthy economy.”
Santorum added that if elected
president he would work to limit marriage to heterosexual couples
because “strengthening the American family” is “important not
just for a culture but it's important for education.”
(Related: Rick
Santorum wants constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.)