Rick Santorum uttered the Westboro Baptist Church’s slogan on national TV on Easter Sunday to defend the anti-gay discrimination he calls “religious liberty.”
Never known for sensitivity or nuance, Rick Santorum had no issue using an anti-gay slur on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” Easter Sunday to defend what he believes is “religious liberty,” but in reality is anti-gay discrimination.Â
The former and likely future Republican presidential candidate, in a pre-recorded interview, spoke with CBS News host Norah O’Donnell about the recent firestorm Gov. Mike Pence caused in Indiana by signing the anti-gay Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. And he quoted the slogan of a certified anti-gay hate group to make his point.
“If you’re a print shop, and you are a gay man, should you be forced to print ‘God Hates Fags’ for the Westboro Baptist Church because they hold those signs up?,†Santorum queried. “And this is really the case here: Should the government force you to do that? And that’s what these cases are all about,” he claimed, falsely.
“Because this is about the government coming in and saying, ‘No we’re going to make you do this.’ And this is where I think we just need some space to say, ‘Let’s have some tolerance be a two-way street.’â€
“No business should discriminate against someone because of who you are, but it should have the ability to say we’re not going to participate in certain activities that we disagree with from a religious point of view,†Santorum said, not understanding where “religious freedom” should start or end.
Of course, Santorum’s ideal “two-way street” is for LGBT people to be banned from marriage, serving in the military, and from obtaining any equality, in the workplace, or even in a bakery.
Nullifying his claim that “no business should discriminate against someone because of who you are,” Santorum made clear he was in favor of the original text Pence signed into law – that would have allowed anyone to discriminate against anyone else merely by citing their sincerely held religious beliefs – instead of the amendment which “clarified” that the law could not be used that way.
“I think the language they had is better language, this is acceptable language,†he said on Sunday. “It doesn’t do a lot of the things — it doesn’t really open the debate up on some of the more current issues,†as if laws were meant to spur public debate.
He noted he “was hoping” Gov. Pence would not sign into law the amendment, “fixing” the discriminatory RFRA.
“I think the current language that the federal law is — and now Indiana is — has been held to have a pretty limited view of religious liberty — religious freedom is in the workplace,†the former Pennsylvania senator continued. “And I think we need to look at, as religious liberty is now being pushed harder, to provide more religious protections, and that bill doesn’t do that.â€
The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson on Sunday reported that “Santorum’s invocation of the anti-gay slur came to consternation of D.C. area news reporter for ABC 7 News Mike Conneen, who took both Santorum and ‘Face the Nation’ to task on Twitter.”
Watch:
Â