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The Santorum controversy arose over U.S. Senator Rick Santorum's statements about homosexuality and the right to privacy in April 2003. In an interview with the Associated Press (AP) taped on April 7, 2003 and published April 20, 2003, Santorum stated that he believed consenting adults do not have a Constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts. Santorum described the ability to regulate consensual homosexual acts as comparable to the states' ability to regulate other consensual and non-consensual sexual behaviors, such as adultery, polygamy, child molestation, incest, sodomy and zoophilia (bestiality), whose legalization he believed would threaten society and the family, as they are not monogamous and heterosexual. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1515, 1105 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): User talk:Ashibaka/History5 Rick Santorum Santorum controversy Potential Republican candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1515, 1105 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): User talk:Ashibaka/History5 Rick Santorum Santorum controversy Potential Republican candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election...
The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ...
Santorum redirects here. ...
Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ...
The right to privacy is a purported human right and an element of various legal traditions which may restrain both government and private party action. ...
The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...
April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ...
Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ...
This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...
The term polygamy (many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology and sociology. ...
Sexual abuse is physical or psychological abuse that involves crimes in most countries. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
François Elluin, Sodomites provoking the wrath of God, from Le pot pourri de Loth (1781). ...
Leda and the Swan, a 16th century copy after a lost painting by Michelangelo. ...
Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate during a period of time. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
Many Democratic politicians, gay rights advocates, and progressive commentators condemned the statements, while many Republican politicians, religious conservatives, and conservative commentators supported Santorum and called the condemnations unfair. The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ...
The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also...
The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...
The statement
In the interview by Associated Press reporter Lara Lakes Jordan, when asked for his position on the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, Santorum said that the scandal involved priests and "post-pubescent men" in "a basic homosexual relationship" (not child sexual abuse), which led the interviewer to ask if homosexuality should be outlawed. In the late 20th century, and especially at the turn of the 21st, the Catholic Church in several countries was confronted with a series of allegations concerning sexual abuse of children under the legal age of consent ¹ by Catholic clergy and religious. ...
Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a childs body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Santorum then brought up the then-pending U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, which challenged a Texas sodomy law, and went on to declare that: The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...
Holding A Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy violated the privacy and liberty of adults, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, to engage in private intimate conduct. ...
Official language(s) English (de facto) See also languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 km²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ...
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as sex crimes. ...
- he didn't have a problem with homosexuals, but "a problem with homosexual acts"
- the right to privacy "doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution"
- and that sodomy laws properly exist to prevent acts which "undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family"
When Jordan asked "Okay, without being too gory or graphic, so if somebody is homosexual, you would argue that they should not have sex?" Santorum's response concluded: Page one of the original copy of the Constitution. ...
"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." Matrimony redirects here. ...
(At this point, Jordan commented, "I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about 'man on dog' with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out," coining a phrase widely used in connection with this incident.)
In the original version of the AP story, Santorum was quoted as saying:
"If the Supreme Court says that 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." His initial statement in the unedited interview (see below) did not include the insert "[gay]". It also included additional remarks criticizing "homosexual acts": "Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, whether it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family." Jordan was forced to produce a recording of the interview, after allegations of bias were leveled against her because she is married to a Democratic strategist. [1]
Public reaction and criticism Santorum's comments evoked responses ranging from George W. Bush's remark, relayed through a spokesperson, that "the President believes that the senator is an inclusive man", to sharp criticism from Howard Dean that "gay-bashing is not a legitimate public policy discussion; it is immoral", to conservative groups such as the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America who came to Santorum's defense. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and physician from the U.S. state of Vermont. ...
Gay bashing is an expression used to designate verbal confrontation with, denigration of, or physical violence against people thought to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) because of their apparent sexual orientation or gender identity. ...
The Family Research Council (FRC) is a Christian conservative non-profit lobbying organization, formed in the United States by James Dobson in 1981 and incorporated 1983. ...
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian group that is active in politics in the United States. ...
Critics went on the attack the day after the AP story. Democrats and numerous gay rights groups (including the Pennsylvania Log Cabin Republicans) condemned Santorum's remarks and demanded an apology. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) called on Santorum to step down as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ...
The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also...
The Log Cabin Republicans is a federated political organization in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, DC. The group consists of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and heterosexuals who support their rights, and who are also supporters of the Republican Party. ...
DSCC can also refer to Defense Supply Center, Columbus. ...
The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the (currently) 51 Republican Senators in the United States Senate. ...
The initial wave of critics were quick to denounce Santorum's apparent comparison of homosexuals to adulterers, polygamists, and people engaging in incest. Subsequently, others broadened the critique and argued that Santorum's position was also an affront to heterosexuals as well, for he had stated that he did not believe that the Constitution guaranteed a right to engage in private consensual sexual acts.
After the remarks were made, Dan Savage, a widely syndicated sex columnist for the Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger who was offended by Santorum's remarks, retaliated by hosting a contest for his readers to create a definition for "santorum" to be disseminated into common usage. The definition that won associated the senator's last name with a by-product of anal sex in his Savage Love column: "santorum" was defined as "the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex."[1]. Savage's new definition for the senator shortly thereafter became the first hit in a Google search for "Santorum." Dan Savage, in what he has described as an extremely flattering press photo of me (I wish I looked like the picture on my Wikipedia page) [1] Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964[2] near Chicago, Illinois) is an openly gay American sex advice columnist, author, media pundit, journalist...
City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area - Total - Land - Water - % water 369. ...
The Stranger is a weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, noted for its social commentary, political opinion, arts, comics and music coverage, and local news items. ...
Roman men having anal sex. ...
Savage Love is a syndicated sex-advice column by Dan Savage, appearing weekly in several dozen newspapers, mainly free city papers in the U.S. and Canada, but also newspapers in Europe and Asia. ...
Santorum is a neologism popularized by American humorist and sex-advice columnist Dan Savage in 2003 to memorialize Former US Republican Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania due to the controversy over his statements on homosexuality. ...
Defense of the remarks Santorum defended his remarks, declaring that his comments were not intended to equate homosexuality with incest and adultery, but rather to challenge the specific legal position that the right to privacy prevents the government from regulating consensual acts among adults, a position he disputes because he does not believe that there is a general constitutional right to privacy.
The dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) took a similar view—that, as the Texas homosexuality law had been ruled unconstitutional because states have no right to interfere with an individual's choice of sexual partners, then the same ruling seems to imply that states have no right to legislate against incest, adultery, or any other private, mutually consensual sexual act not involving minors. Although this is intended as an argument against the ruling of unconstitutionality, some favor this viewpoint. Holding A Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy violated the privacy and liberty of adults, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, to engage in private intimate conduct. ...
Gay staff In July 2005, Santorum's Director of Communication, Robert Traynham, confirmed[2] speculation that he was gay, describing himself as an "out gay man" who strongly supported Santorum, "a man of principle[;] he is a man who sticks up for what he believes in". Santorum issued this statement: // While outing often refers to an outdoor excursion, in the late twentieth century, the term acquired an additional meaning, taking someone out of the closet, that is, publicising that someone is secretly homosexual. ...
- Robert Traynham [...] is widely respected and admired on Capitol Hill, both among the press corps and among the congressional staff, as a communications professional. Not only is Mr. Traynham an exemplary staffer, but he is also a trusted friend confidente to me and my family. Mr. Traynham is a valued member of my staff and I regret that this effort on behalf of people who oppose me has made him a target of bigotry in their eyes. It is entirely unacceptable that my staffs' personal lives are considered fair game by partisans looking for arguments to bolster my opponent's campaign. Mr. Traynham continues to have my full support and confidence as well as my prayers as he navigates this rude and mean spirited invasion of his personal life.[3]
The press gallery is the part of a parliament where journalists are allowed to sit or gather to observe and then report speeches and events. ...
A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of opinions, lifestyles, or identities differing from his or her own. ...
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