Santorum Flees PFLAG
Meetingby Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
(Washington, D.C.) Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum fled a Thursday night meeting with four parents of gay children. The parents, members of PFLAG said he rushed out of the meeting so quickly he tripped over a chair.
Santorum who has come under fire for comparing homosexuality with incest, polygamy and adultery was unapologetic.
"What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Santorum, who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant."
Also present for the meeting were Mrs. Waldo's husband, Richard, a lifelong Republican who said he voted two times for Santorum, and two constituents of the senator, Fran and Allen Kirschner of Philadelphia.
It was Fran Kirschner who managed to get the meeting arranged. The four parents, members of Philadelphia's PFLAG chapter, are in Washington as part of a lobbying effort to get Congress to enact gay positive laws including the hate crimes bill.
Kirschner said she spent much of last week telephoning Santorum's office to request the meeting. Finally was told Thursday that the senator would see them for 10 minutes.
During the meeting the parents insisted that the comments were hurtful to their children. Santorum dismissed the arguments saying his comments should only be taken in a "legal context".
When the exchange became heated an aide to the Senator told him it was time to leave.
"He couldn't get out of there fast enough," Allen Kirschner said.
Erica Clayton Wright, a spokesperson for Santorum, disputed the Kirschners' account, describing the meeting as "a very professional and polite exchange." She declined to give details, however, saying, "Constituent meetings are private."
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"What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Mr. Santorum who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant."
A spokeswoman for Mr. Santorum, Erica Clayton Wright, described the meeting as "a very professional and polite exchange." She declined to give details, however, saying, "Constituent meetings are private."
Mr. Santorum has been under fire from gay rights organizations for nearly two weeks, since The Associated Press published an article quoting his views on a Supreme Court case that involves a ban in Texas against sodomy. Mr. Santorum, third in the Senate Republican leadership, said states should have the right to legislate against homosexual activity, just as they prohibit bigamy and incest.
The remarks prompted widespread criticism and calls by gay rights groups for Mr. Santorum to resign his leadership post. Republican leaders in the House and Senate have stood by him.
The parents who met tonight are members of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, an advocacy group that has not spoken publicly before on Mr. Santorum, but is in Washington to lobby lawmakers on issues like hate crimes and safe schools for gay youths.
Also present for the meeting were Mrs. Waldo's husband, Richard, a lifelong Republican who he voted two times for Mr. Santorum, and two constituents of the senator, Fran and Allen Kirschner of Philadelphia. Mrs. Kirschner said she spent much of last week telephoning Mr. Santorum's office to request a meeting and was told today that the senator would see them for 10 minutes.
The meeting, with a heated exchange, ran 30 minutes, the parents said. The parents, Mrs. Kirschner said, insisted that the comments were hurtful to their children. Mr. Santorum, they said, wanted to talk about legal terms, insisting that he was just arguing against a right to privacy and that his remarks had been taken out of context.
Finally, an aide interrupted the session and told Mr. Santorum that he would have to leave.
"He couldn't get out of there fast enough," Mr. Kirschner said.
Re "Republican Lawmakers Back Senator in Gay Dispute" (news article, April 30):
It's obvious that the Senate Republican leaders are sending a message to voters that they uphold traditional family values in their support of Senator Rick Santorum in the face of his remarks comparing homosexuality to incest, polygamy, bigamy and adultery. Are they aware, though, of the message they are sending to kids?
Studies in the medical literature over
the past decade have shown that adolescents who are gay or lesbian — or are even
perceived as gay or lesbian — face violence from their peers at rates four to
six times greater than heterosexuals their age. By sanctioning Mr. Santorum's
remarks, the Senate Republicans have done much to make the lives of lesbian and
gay kids harder and have given fresh ammunition to those who would torment them.
KENNETH HALLER, M.D.
Pres., Gay and Lesbian Medical Assn.
St. Louis,
April 30, 2003
To the Editor:
Dan Savage ("G.O.P. Hypocrisy," Op-Ed, April 25) excoriates Senator Rick Santorum's failure to recognize that "same-sex couples" who adopt or have children are "families."
As much as it may surprise
Mr. Savage, my love of 25 years and I are not just a "couple" brought together
by "desire." Even without children, our love, dedication and caring through
sickness and health, good times and bad, have also created a "family."
PARIS R. BALDACCI
New York, April 26, 2003
To the
Editor:
Dan Savage's observation that it is socially acceptable to be a homophobe, but not a racist (Op-Ed, April 25) brought to mind a prophetic statement by Bayard Rustin, who battled both racism and homophobia in his 60-year career as an activist and organizer.
"Twenty-five or 30 years ago," Rustin said in a 1986 interview, "the barometer of human rights in the United States was black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay or lesbian."
Given the hateful views of
gay men and lesbians espoused unapologetically by leaders like Senator Rick
Santorum — and the sobering fact that it was only four months ago that New York
enacted legislation to protect gay citizens from discrimination in housing,
employment and public accommodations — we have a long way to go.
BENNETT SINGER
Brooklyn, April 26, 2003
The writer is co-director
of a new PBS documentary about Bayard
Rustin.