Rick Santorum just doesn’t know when to stop.
The former senator from Pennsylvania was voted out of office several years ago, largely thanks to an LGBT and ally mobilization in response to his antiquated views on the LGBT community (topped off by his comparisons of homosexuality to bestiality, among other gems). He threw his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination for president last year but also was unsuccessful on that front. But, his political losses have not stopped him from proselytizing about the country’s direction, including on LGBT issues.
This week, Santorum warned fellow Republicans that supporting marriage equality would be “suicidal” for the party. The prediction came in an interview with The Des Moines Register in response to the news that two Republican senators had gotten on board with the marriage-equality cause. Santorum decried their assumptions that the party would ultimately come around on the issue.
Change, Santorum says, is not in the cards.
What the former senator fails to recognize, however, is that it may be Republicans’ failure to embrace change, rather than their support of marriage equality, that will be their deathknell.
Support for marriage equality is building rapidly and steadily across the nation. A report by the Williams Institute out last week found that support for marriage equality has grown by an average of 13.6 percent across the nation in the last eight years, with jumps in every single state. Currently, more than 50 percent of residents in 12 states and D.C. back marriage equality, the report states, further predicting that number will jump to 20 by the end of next year. Here in Pennsylvania, approval for same-sex marriage stands at 47 percent, according to the report.
Even though backing comes more often from Democrats than Republicans, the GOP is not exempt from marriage-equality support. Recently, dozens of conservative (read: Republican) political leaders lent their support to same-sex marriage in an amicus brief for the Proposition 8 case in the U.S. Supreme Court, including Pennsylvania’s own former Gov. Tom Ridge.
Santorum, however, seems to see marriage equality as a fad, which he evidently does not think will last.
“Just because some of those things happen to be popular right now doesn’t mean the Republican Party should follow suit,” he said in his interview.
As much as Santorum may want gays and lesbians to scurry back into the closet, and the community’s burgeoning political power to fade, that’s not going to happen. Younger generations from both parties — who will be the future of America — support same-sex marriage. And, even young people who aren’t on board with marriage equality largely don’t consider this to be a major issue.
As always, however, Santorum is determined to stick his head in the sand and believe in his own reality. As long as that practice keeps Santorum out of public office, that’s fine by us.