Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told
The Des Moines Register on Friday that religious groups should
have the right to discriminate against gay men and lesbians.
Santorum, a social conservative known
mostly for this opposition to gay rights, continues to campaign
heavily in early caucus state Iowa, where GOP voters prefer
conservative candidates.
While results from next week's Ames
Iowa Straw Poll might give the campaign a much needed lift, it
continues to slip nationwide.
According to a Harris Interactive poll
released on Friday, Santorum ranks last in a GOP poll of 12 announced
candidates, including former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (2%) and
openly gay Fred Karger (2%).
“I'm the only person in this race by
measuring the Gallup poll from March to July, everybody else who's
even in the race or a prospective in the race their name recognition
increase except me,” the former Pennsylvania senator said. “And
so you sort of wonder why is the national media not talking about me
when they're talking about people like Jon Huntsman who are way below
me in the national polls yet he gets press every single day.”
“Nobody seems to want to pay any
attention to me,” he added.
For the record, Huntsman supports civil
unions for gay couples, believes states have the right to decide
whether to legalize gay marriage, and does not support a federal
amendment banning such marriages.
Santorum had this to say on gay
marriage: “Religious liberty is now trumped because we have now
created a 'super' right. … Now the courts have created a 'super'
right that's above a right that's actually in the Constitution, and
that's of sexual liberty. And I think that's a wrong, that's a
destructive element.”