Rick Santorum Suggests Government Should Have A Bias Against Gay Couples

Rick Santorum, speaking on the campaign trail in Spartanburg, South Carolina, suggested that government should have a bias against gay people, especially when it comes to adoption. The trailing Republican presidential candidate told the small audience,

“But what I believe is that government should have a bias, a bias in favor of what is best for society, a bias in favor of what is proven to be best for children, which is the future of society.

“From just the standpoint of how do children who are born out of wedlock do with respect to their educational achievement, their professional achievement, with respect to their criminal record, with respect to drug use, with respect to having children out of wedlock themselves, with having broken families themselves — how do they do? In every measure — every measure, overwhelmingly — they do worse.”

The 53-year old Roman Catholic also said, “when really good Godly people stand up next to you and say that, and believe in you, that is one of the greatest affirmations.

READ: Santorum: Gay Marriage “Cheapens” Straight Marriage, “Undermines Faith”

Think Progress, who published the above transcript, adds,

“Santorum believes that same-sex couples should not have the “privilege” to adopt children because the aren’t “as good” as their opposite-sex counterparts — an argument that’s disputed by scientific evidence. For instance, “Scholars, at USC and New York University, looked at a range of existing studies, including research on gay and lesbian parents, finding that it’s ideal if a child is raised by two parents who are ‘responsible, committed, stable,’ but that the gender doesn’t cause radical differences.” The American Psychological Association has also concluded that “beliefs that lesbian and gay adults are not fit parents have no empirical foundation. Lesbian and heterosexual women have not been found to differ markedly in their approaches to child rearing.”