This past Friday, On Top Magazine reported on an interview with Rick Santorum by Fox News's Megan Kelly. In this interview Santorum stated many of his beliefs about gay marriage, respect and his view of marriage in politics. Actually, he talked about how he deserved respect from the LGBT community for ALL of his beliefs, and then went on to describe these beliefs as policy.
Let's start with Santorum's desire to "not hate somebody or feel ill will toward anybody" when it comes to 'proper' marriage laws and what he considers the 'best interest of society':
“As I've said many times, I have friends who are gay, you know, I accept them as they are, but I disagree with them vehemently about what is in the best interest of society with respect to our marriage laws and what we are going to teach our children in schools; what the impact of those marriage laws will be on our faith communities and their ability to able to proclaim the truth as God has laid it out in the Bible.”
I have to say; when did 'I' as a person and citizen of the United States, not to mention the rest of my LGBT US Citizens, get kicked off the island and booted from society? I didn't receive that memo, did you?
And speaking of respect, I can't even comprehend how removing me from society is a 'respectful' action. Hey, I pay my taxes and vote and follow the rules of the law, why don't I count as a member of society?
But Santorum doesn't stop there, he continues to drive that nail in the coffin about respect:
“But also you have to respect me for feeling very differently about trying to take that [sexual] orientation and then to try to project an agenda on to the American public that is consistent with that.”
Equating a US citizen's struggle for equal civil rights to a nefarious 'agenda' is not respectful. It's a scare tactic. And that is all Santorum is trying to do, scare the rest of society into believing that there's an 'us' and a 'them'. With Santorum and his respectful kind as the 'us', fighting a Godly battle with the hateful 'them'.
I have no agenda, besides wanting the exact same rights as all the others of my kind--which is United States citizens, if you were wondering. And whether or not he respects it, and at this point I am doubting his understanding of the definition, he still has to acknowledge me as a citizen of his beloved United States and the society within it.
