Republican
Lawmakers Back Senator in Gay Dispute
New
York Times, April 30, 2003
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: 212-556-3622
Email: letters@nytimes.com
By Carl Hulse
WASHINGTON—Republican leaders in
Congress gave strong backing to Senator Rick Santorum today, dismissing calls
by gay rights groups and Democrats for him to be replaced as the third-ranking
Republican in the Senate for remarks about homosexuality.
Senior officials in both houses swiftly rose to Mr.
Santorum’s defense as Congress returned from a two-week recess and the
lawmakers faced questions about him from reporters.
“I think Senator Santorum took a very courageous and
moral position based upon principles and his world view,” said
Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader from Texas.
Mr. DeLay said he was proud of Mr. Santorum for
“standing on principle.”
Mr. Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican who is the
chairman of the Senate Republican Conference has been caught in a storm since
he discussed a Texas antisodomy law under review by the Supreme Court during
an interview with The Associated Press.
Referring to sodomy, he said, “If the Supreme Court
says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have
the right to bigamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to
adultery. You have the right to anything.”
The remarks sparked outrage from gay rights groups,
Democrats and a few moderate Republicans who suggested he should apologize or
be replaced in the upper echelon of the Senate hierarchy. They made
comparisons to the way Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the former
Republican leader, was pushed aside after comments seen as racially divisive.
But Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader,
said today that Mr. Santorum’s support among his fellow Republicans in the
Senate was solid.
“Absolutely, he will remain in leadership,” Dr. Frist
told reporters. “He has the full, 100 percent confidence of the Republican
leadership in the United States Senate.”
Dr. Frist went on to praise his colleague for his
“inclusiveness, in terms of growing the Republican Party.”
Officials said Mr. Santorum thanked his fellow Republican
senators for their support in a closed strategy luncheon and received a round
of applause.
People at the meeting said Mr. Santorum even received
expressions of support from fellow Republicans who last week had expressed
some misgivings about the comments.
Mr. Santorum, who did not speak in public today, has
refused to apologize and said that his remarks were more directed at the right
to privacy rather than homosexuality. He said his position was shared by a
majority of the Supreme Court in upholding a Georgia antisodomy law in 1986.
Mr. DeLay repeated that point today, saying the court
found “that it is very dangerous to say that whatever you do behind closed
doors is your right to privacy.”
“It undermines a lot of moral questions that we have in
this country,” he said.
Senator Santorum and His Critics
New
York Times, May 2, 2003
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: 212-556-3622
Email: letters@nytimes.com
Letters
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
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