Scroll To Top
Election

How About a President Rick Santorum?

How About a President Rick Santorum?

X9wt8rqqdwqqgjjgdz5igqp2zcu6gdsstmdureerpzo

The former Pennsylvania senator is primed to launch his second bid for president today.

sunnivie

Rick Santorum, the far-right former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, is poised to announce his presidential bid on ABC News with George Stephanopoulos this afternoon. He will make his formal announcement at an event in Cabot, Pa., near his childhood home, ABC reports.

This will be the right-wing darling's second campaign for the White House, after a failed 2012 bid that tapered off after an unexpected early victory in the Iowa caucus and nearly a dozen other primaries.

Santorum, a longtime opponent of marriage equality, recently made headlines for his comments that seemed to support Olympian Bruce Jenner's recent announcement that he identifies as a transgender woman. After receiving pushback from his right-wing base, however, Santorum "clarified" his comments to indicate that he knows "obviously and biologically" what Jenner's gender is, according to the Olympian's "genetics and DNA."

Regarding marriage equality, Santorum made the rounds on conservative radio programming last June, proclaiming that marriage is "about a unity of men and women, for the purposes of having and raising children, and giving the child their birthright, which is to be raised by their natural mother and natural father." That same month, he also equated LGBT activists with Nazis, and in October, he claimed that young people overwhelmingly support LGBT equality because the so-called gay agenda has "silenced the church."

Santorum enters an already crowded field of Republican presidential hopefuls, including several far-right antigay politicians who could be competing for Santorum's standard conservative base. That field includes former neurosurgeon and noted antigay commentator Ben Carson; former Arkansas governor, Fox News host, and founder of the antigay Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day Mike Huckabee; and The Advocate's Phobie of the Year for 2014, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. In comparison to her fellow candidates, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina seems downright tolerant for admitting she would accept a Supreme Court ruling bringing legal same-sex marriage to all 50 states.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

sunnivie
Advocate Channel - The Pride StoreOut / Advocate Magazine - Fellow Travelers & Jamie Lee Curtis

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.
Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.