Santom In Gay Rights Dispute - CBS News

Contents:

• SANTOM: PRISONER OF THE GAYS
• SANTOM IN GAY RIGHTS DISPUTE
• SANTOM DWELLS ON GAY MARRIAGE
• RICK SANTOM: GAY MARRIAGE IN THE U.S. WILL HAVE 'PROFOUND CONSEQUENC' WORLDWI
• CHRIS MATTHEWS AND ROBERT TRAYNHAM, GAY FORMER SANTOM AI, HAVE HEATED CLASH (VIDEO)

SANTOM: PRISONER OF THE GAYS

After he ma wily publicized homophobic remarks, notably parg homosexualy to btialy, the term santom was an vented and spread as an ironic slang term—referrg to a mixture of lube and fel matter that n rult om anal sex—to pillory him. This posn brought him to higher promence natnal polics—and directed more attentn toward his public statements, cludg his ntroversial 2003 ments on gayns, as we’ll shortly addrs.

SANTOM IN GAY RIGHTS DISPUTE

Santom remarked: “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to nsensual [gay] sex wh your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to ct, you have the right to adultery. ” Santom elsewhere claimed that legalizg beg gay would create precent for legal unns such as “man on child” or “man on dog” sex.

In an advice lumn for The Stranger, Savage suggted attachg Santom‘s name to an act or element of gay sex to “memorialize” his homophobic ments.

However, given s history, is more likely to appear ntexts challengg Santom and those who share his homophobic views by makg them feel unfortable about (perfectly normal) gay sex.

SANTOM DWELLS ON GAY MARRIAGE

Outraged by Santom's opposn to same-sex marriage and nmnatn of homosexualy, 2003 openly gay lumnist Dan Savage ed the term "santom.

" It was first nceived and ed by Amerin lumnist Dan Savage and his rears an effort to publicly shame the former Republic senator Rick Santom for the anti-gay remarks he ma durg an terview wh the Associated Prs April 2003. He also add that nsensual gay terurse uld be ernment-regulated, siar to how stat rtrict other sexual acts like adultery, polygamy, child moltatn, ct and btialy protectg the valu of society and the Amerin fay. Upon s publitn on April 20th, 2003, Senator Santom's terview rponse drew harsh cricisms om the prs, civil rights groups and other Democrats, maly for his unsavory parison of homosexualy to ct, polygamy and adultery.

In July 2011, Savage appeared a Funny Or Die[14] vio which he jtfully warned the Republin printial ndidate nomee to refe his first name "Rick" to somethg even worse if Santom did not stop cricizg homosexualy durg his mpaign.

RICK SANTOM: GAY MARRIAGE IN THE U.S. WILL HAVE 'PROFOUND CONSEQUENC' WORLDWI

Rick Santom and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow clashed over gay rights issu on her show Wednday night, and the Republin printial ndidate offered an apology of sorts for a remark he ma a dozen years ago. If people are born gay or transgenr, Santom posed, “ leads to a whole bunch of other suatns, ” like sex-selective abortns, for example.

“So if you n terme whether one of your children is gay, should we pass a law sayg you n’t abort a child bee you found out that child’s gog to be gay? Asked whether believed beg gay is a choice, Santom said he has never answered the qutn bee he do not really know the answer. So I gus maybe that se, maybe they did, ” he said, addg that he do “know people who have lived the gay liftyle and no longer live .

Maddow challenged Santom on that, notg that he has talked about gay rights “all the time, ” rellg a 2003 terview wh an Associated Prs reporter which he referred to btialy as the potential slippery slope after the Supreme Court ma nsensual gay sex legal across the untry. Rick Santom, known for his strgent opposn to same-sex marriage, is softeng his rhetoric about gay a Wednday terview wh MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, a rare s down for a Republin, Santom said he "absolutely" regrets parg homosexualy wh btialy.

CHRIS MATTHEWS AND ROBERT TRAYNHAM, GAY FORMER SANTOM AI, HAVE HEATED CLASH (VIDEO)

In New Hampshire and South Carola, he left "homosexual marriage" out of his stump speech (at least explicly – the “fay” part of “Fah, Fay, and Freedom” vok Santom’s emphasis on the tradnal nuclear fay), but still faced a tough llege crowd New Hampshire who booed him for an extend analogy between gay marriage and polygamy.

But he let the issue fe him 2003, when he told an AP reporter that the fn of marriage should rema tradnal and that “not to pick on homosexualy -- 's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the se may be. Meanwhile the issue, a promisg wedge the mid-2000s, has lost s charge on the right while the broad public grows more fortable wh a spectm of gay rights leadg up to marriage.

But as he has tried to broan his msage and talk about the enomy, he’s found himself trapped the plex and entertag polics of gay rights, a prisoner of the gays. ” Even for voters who agree wh him on gay rights, the perceptn that he’s the ndidate of the culture wars has ma him unpalatable, said Fred Saz, the vice print for munitns at the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, which has ma Santom a top for him would be like “orrg Morocn food at an Italian rtrant, ” Saz Santom’s wele even at nservative gathergs, like a meetg fo the Chamber of Commerce Columbia, South Carola last week, has at tim been chilly. Santom, left to his own vic, do not e across as a hater, and though he attacks same-sex marriage, rarely talks about gays and lbians the terms wh which he’s a bate New Hampshire early January, Santom was asked what he would do if one of his sons me out to him.