Once again a Republican senator has spoken his mind about a group of people, and once again tongues are wagging, calling for some sort of sanction.
Rick Santorum, R-Pa., earlier this month told The Associated Press, “if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual 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 is referring to a Supreme Court case currently under review challenging a Texas law against “deviant sexual intercourse.” In the case, Houston police received a false report of an armed intruder, entered a home, found two men having sex and arrested them.
Gay rights groups, many Democrats and two Republicans, so far, have called Santorum’s comments discriminatory, have said Santorum should be removed from his No. 3 post in the Senate GOP leadership, and have said the comments do not reflect the views of the Republican Party, respectively. Santorum defended his comments and told CNN they “were taken out of context.” Actually, they weren’t. Read the transcript at http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/04/22/santorum.excerpts.ap/index.html.
Those challenging Santorum’s comments have focused on the quote listed above. And yes, those comments are discriminatory. The difference is that sanctions against bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery apply equally to everyone. The Texas law, a throwback to zealous religious rule, can be applied to anything beyond vaginal-penile intercourse. But it isn’t.
This law isn’t used to punish heterosexual couples found doing dirty things. It’s used to pass judgment on homosexuality and punish gays. Such witch hunts shouldn’t be allowed, and Santorum’s words ignore the distinction and keep bigotry alive.
There are more interesting bits in Santorum’s interview, though. He actually blames the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal on liberals. Here’s the quote:
“You have the problem within the church. Again, it goes back to this moral relativism, which is very accepting of a variety of different lifestyles. And if you make the case that if you can do whatever you want to do, as long as it’s in the privacy of your own home, this ‘right to privacy,’ then why be surprised that people are doing things that are deviant within their own home? If you say, there is no deviant as long as it’s private, as long as it’s consensual, then don’t be surprised what you get.”
Wait a minute. It sounds like he’s saying that when Catholic priests used their authority to force boys to have sex with them — it was consensual? Here’s more:
“In this case, what we’re talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We’re not talking about priests with 3 year olds or 5 year olds. We’re talking about a basic homosexual relationship.”
No, actually, raping minors is not a basic homosexual relationship. And mainstream America recognizes that. The interview shows that Santorum doesn’t simply hold bigoted views about gays — he’s way out of touch with reality. Forget sanctions; the GOP should cut its losses and drop him entirely.