Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum
isn't talking when it comes to the topic of gay activist Dan Savage.
While taking a swipe at Texas
Governor Rick Perry for saying he was “fine” with New York's
decision legalizing gay marriage, Santorum reiterated his
opposition to the institution.
Speaking at the Western Conservative
Summit in Denver over the weekend, Santorum
also denied he had ever compared gay unions to incest and bestiality.
“No, I wasn't,” Santorum said. “I
was saying, if the standard is consent, then how do you rationally
draw the line? You can't. And they aren't.”
Then-Pennsylvania Senator Santorum in
2003 compared gay unions to “man on dog” while discussing the
groundbreaking Supreme Court decision that struck down sodomy laws
throughout the United States.
The comments prompted Savage to
redefine “santorum.” The new definition links Santorum to anal
sex, and nearly eight years later it continues to rank high on
Google's search results.
And last week, Savage, the man behind
the It Gets Better Project, jokingly threatened Santorum with a
second redefinition.
In
a Funny or Die video, Savage warns Santorum to “behave” or
he'll redefine his first name, as well.
“So the ball is in your court,
Richard John Santorum. Leave us gays alone, or I change the
definition of Rick,” Savage adds. “And its not like you can
start going by Dick Santorum, is it?”
When the progressive blog
ThinkProgress.org over the weekend caught up with Santorum, who
earlier used the melee to fundraise, he squarely refused to talk
about the sex advice columnist.
“I'm not going to talk about Dan
Savage,” Santorum said. “He's below the dignity of anybody.
Thank you.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page.)