Rick Santorum Defends Bruce Jenner: 'He's a Woman'

Rick Santorum, a possible Republican presidential candidate with a checkered history on gay rights issues, expressed support of Bruce Jenner at a conservative conference this weekend.

The former Pennsylvania senator said he believes the Olympian when he told Diane Sawyer, "For all intents and purposes, I'm a woman," in a much-hyped ABC News interview last month.

"If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," Santorum told reporters at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Saturday, reports CBS News. "My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are."

"I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody, and these are obviously complex issues for businesses, for society," he continued. "And I think we have to look at it in a way that is compassionate and respectful of everybody."

Santorum recently made headlines when he announced that he would not attend a same-sex marriage of a friend or loved one. Joking at this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner, President Obama said, "That's not going to be a problem."

In the past, Santorum, a supporter of so-called traditional marriage, has 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."

Yet Santorum expressed a different tone this weekend on transgender issues. He even said the federal government should avoid "the whole issue of bathrooms," a reference to legislation that would seek to restrict public restroom use for transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

"So these are tough issues. I haven't got into the whole issue, and I don't think the federal government should get into the whole issue of bathrooms," Santorum said. "I think those are things that the business community and local agencies and organizations should deal with."