May 1, 2003
As a gay man, I don't have a problem with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. But I do have a problem with the fact that he caused an ongoing national controversy with his anti-gay remarks, and is either too ignorant or mean-spirited to simply apologize.
The current trouble started over a Texas case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1998, police responded to a false report and ended up arresting two men they found in bed together. The men were in the privacy of their home, yet they were charged under Texas' anti-sodomy law, which prohibits sexual relations between people of the same sex.
Santorum defended the Texas law that made the arrest possible. Along the way, Santorum compared homosexuality to incest, adultery, bigamy and bestiality.
The Senator tied all this up in a crazy little bundle by saying that he doesn't have a problem with homosexuality; he just has a problem with "homosexual acts." That's like saying, "I don't have a problem with people of other races and cultures; I just think they should be exactly like me."
Many Republicans -- and social conservatives of all stripes -- have become cozy with anti-gay prejudice. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who lost his leadership position last year after getting nostalgic about the days of racial segregation, has compared gay people to "kleptomaniacs." Stirring up suspicion and hostility toward gay people is, unfortunately, still a part of too many politicians' playbooks.
The surprise about the Santorum tantrum, however, is not that he said something that is vicious. The surprise is that Santorum and his defenders are trying to have it both ways by taking an anti-gay position but calling it something else.
In the days since this controversy broke, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has called Santorum "a consistent voice for inclusion." Santorum himself has said he is a "firm believer that all are equal under the Constitution."
It doesn't work that way. You can't be inclusive when you demonize people. You're not a "firm believer that all are equal under the Constitution" when you argue that a whole category of people should be turned into outlaws. You are anything but a "voice for inclusion" when you promote legislation that sanctions the invasion of people's bedrooms and criminalizes consensual sex between adults.
Santorum and his defenders are right about one thing, though: There are moral principles at stake here -- but not the ones they think. At stake are political integrity, honesty and equal treatment under the law.
Chris Ott is a writer in Madison, Wis., whose work on gay issues has appeared in gay and lesbian papers around the country. He has also written for Salon.com, The Los Angeles Times and Extra!, the magazine of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.