U.S. Senator Rick Santorum recently defended the institution of marriage and for doing so has been criticized by gay activist groups. “If the Supreme Court says you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything,” Santorum said.
Defending Santorum is Catholic League president William Donohue:
“Rick Santorum expresses the Christian understanding of marriage and for this gay activists want the Republican leadership to condemn his remarks. Indeed, they have compared Santorum’s comments to the statements made by Senator Trent Lott regarding the segregationist legacy of Senator Strom Thurmond. But the comparison fails on the face of it.
“A segregationist is anti-black. To defend the institution of marriage is pro-civil society. This traditional institution cannot be defended if all alternative lifestyles are treated as its equal. Just as it is impossible to endorse privileges for senior citizens while simultaneously awarding the same privileges to non-seniors, it is impossible to privilege monogamous relationships between a man and a woman in the institution of marriage while awarding an identical status to those engaged in homosexuality, bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. If the institution of marriage is special then attempts to relativize it must be resisted.
“There are other problems with the analogy as advanced by gay groups. To be anti-black is to be opposed to someone on the basis of his ancestry. To be opposed to homosexuality is to be opposed to what a person does. There is a fundamental difference between race and behavior and attempts to obscure these differences are disingenuous.
“Senator Santorum’s defense of marriage is in keeping with his Roman Catholic convictions. We earnestly defend his right to do so.”
