Rick Santorum presidential campaign, 2016/Gay rights

	; ; Former presidential candidate ; Rick Santorum
	Political offices: ; Former U.S. Senator; (1995-2007); Former U.S. Representative; (1991-1995);
	Santorum on the issues:
	Taxes • Banking policy • Government regulations • International trade • Budgets • Agricultural subsidies • Federal assistance programs • Foreign affairs • Federalism • Natural resources • Healthcare • Immigration • Education • Abortion • Gay rights
	Republican candidate:
	Donald Trump
	Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage; 2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016

Rick Santorum announced his presidential run on May 27, 2015.^[1]

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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

Although Rick Santorum said a gay couple could produce “a very positive and nurturing environment” for a child, he maintained in September 2015 that same-sex marriage would destroy the nuclear family. “When you have a law that says, as the [Supreme Court] said, that marriage has nothing to do with children anymore, then what you're gonna have, is you're not gonna a society encouraging the behavior that is in the best interest of children and the future of society,” said Santorum.^[2]

In September 2015, Santorum called Kim Davis’ refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses as a Kentucky county clerk “heroic” and an act of “civil disobedience." He continued in this vein at the September 2015 GOP debate. Santorum said, “16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith.”^[3]^[4]

In August 2015, Santorum signed a pledge with the National Organization for Marriage “to take several specific actions as president to restore marriage to the law and protect people of faith from discrimination because of their support for traditional marriage.”^[5]

In an interview on FOX News on June 28, 2015, Rick Santorum recommended protecting religious liberty to challenge the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Santorum added, "We have to reclaim marriage as an institution that's not about two adults or more than two adults. That it's about children. Marriage has always been about children. It's always been about how to create the best environment for the next generation to be raised in a society, and we've detached marriage from having and raising children, and I think that's the next effort to try to reclaim that."^[6]

In response to Obergefell, Santorum tweeted on June 26, 2015, "Today, 5 unelected judges redefined the foundational unit of society. Now it is the people's turn to speak #Marriage."^[7]

The Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional on June 26, 2015. Following the decision, Santorum said "It’s a decision based on a lie. It’s a decision based on fundamental untruths. And yet it is the law of the land." He continued, "We are now faced not just with a society that’s going to say and is saying that marriage has nothing to do with children,” Mr. Santorum said. “That’s the impact of this decision. Marriage has nothing to do with children. Marriage has to do with adults and what makes adults happy, not what is necessary for children to be raised in a home where they have their birthright, a mother and a father who loves them and raises them into adulthood and into good citizens of America."^[8]

Santorum voted for HR 3396 - the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined "'marriage' as only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." It became law on September 21, 1996.^[9]^[10]

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