Look, loyal
readers of my column. I know what you’re going to say: "Rick Santorum again?
Haven’t you written enough about this douche bag filled with methane gas? He’s
not even running for or even in office. At this point paying him any mind, even
to call him a creep, is just encouraging him."
And to that
I say, you are correct.
But what
can I say? He’s just so, well, creepy. And so obsessed with gays. So if making
Rick Santorum Creep of the Week for the millionth time is wrong I don’t want to
be right.
On Oct. 11,
National Coming Out Day no less, Santorum spoke before the Family Policy
Institute of Washington. As you know, Washington is one of three states that
could legalize marriage equality in November. Naturally Santorum waxed pathetic
about how two dudes marrying is the worst thing ever. Worse than killing
babies, even.
Seriously.
"The
movement that you are fighting," says Santorum, "is the most important cultural
movement." He then interrupts himself midsentence to make very clear that he
means the most important, saying, "I’m a prolife warrior, I’ll match up my
credentials with anybody," and then continuing, "It is the most important
movement to win because if we do not win this issue of marriage not only will
the family disintegrate. It is disintegrating."
Santorum
then cites some statistics about 19 year olds not getting married as often as
they did in 1972 or some shit "because we are destroying the institution."
But let’s
look again at his declaration. Santorum and "prolife warriors" like him believe
very strongly that abortion is akin to murder. And now Santorum is saying that
keeping two ladies from saying "I do" is more important than protecting the
life of the unborn.
This shows
how very desperate the fight against marriage equality has become and how low
Santorum, an anti-gay poster boy, has sunk. Granted, not everybody thinks of
abortion as baby murder, but for folks who do – ahem, Santorum – it’s hard to
imagine anything trumping that issue. Until now.
"We want to
be on the side of truth," Santorum says. And, let’s face it, babies don’t
understand abstract concepts like truth. Or freedom. Or equality. They can’t
make protest signs. They can’t vote. They can’t run for office.
Gays and
lesbians, on the other hand, are actually formidable opponents. And they know
good and damn well what truth, freedom, and equality mean.
Santorum,
however, has a very different definition. Regarding marriage equality he says,
"Are all things equal? Is everything equal to everything else? Or are there
differences? Are some things better than other things? Are some things more
worthy of support than other things? Equality is a great term just like freedom
is a great term but in excess it undermines the virtue that each is. The
greatest threat to freedom is unbridled freedom. Everybody going out and doing
whatever they wanna do. Red light, green light, I don’t care I’m free! The
greatest threat to equality is equality that shows no discernment, has no basis
for value."
Hear that
homos? Stop fucking up equality with your valueless lives.
The
Constitution, Santorum says, "is the operator’s manual of America." He then
holds up a facsimile of his vision for what an amendment to ban gay marriage
would look like: An Ikea-like diagram of a penis going into a vagina, resulting
in heterosexual American flag baby.
"America at
its soul," he says, "is a moral enterprise." Yes. Just ask the Native
Americans. Santorum then rambles on about building a just society. But don’t
get any funny ideas, gays. It doesn’t include you.