“In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.” No, those words aren’t Chancellor Silber’s latest views on benefits for domestic partnerships, but comments Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) made earlier this week about a Texas law prohibiting sodomy. While the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference obviously has every right to express his views, the statements yet again have the Republican Party concerned about its image and divided on whether to support his viewpoint.
Santorum’s comments that “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 incest, you have the right to adultery” make little sense and show an extremely skewed and negative view of homosexuality. Rightly, though, the Senator says he will not apologize for expressing what is his opinion, which will hopefully spare the country from another situation like that following Sen. Trent Lott’s gaffe about race.
However, the Republican Party must recognize that offensive, ignorant comments like these do affect its image – positively for those with similar myopic views, and negatively in the minds of most people. Therefore, the other members of the party need to continue reacting as they have this week and sharing their views to ensure they are not judged on one other Republican’s words. This also includes President Bush, who so far has dodged inquiries about his opinion. Just as Santorum has every right to share his opinions, so does the rest of his party, and they risk being automatically associated with Santorum unless they too speak up.
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