National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force Slams Santorum’s “Gutter Language” Comparing
Homosexuality to Pedophilia, Bestiality
National
Gay And Lesbian Task Force, April 23, 2003
Media Release
Media Contact:
Sheri A. Lunn
323-857-8751
media@ngltf.org
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) today
called on Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) to apologize for comments he made in an
Associated Press interview comparing homosexuality to pedophilia and
bestiality. NGLTF also called on President Bush and other Republican leaders
to repudiate Santorum’s remarks, the full transcript of which was released
last night by A.P. and is included at the bottom of this release.
Finally, NGLTF called for both Republicans and Democrats
to stand up against Santorum’s remarks by:
1. speaking out in favor of and calling upon the White
House to support the upcoming U.N. resolution which opposes sexual
orientation-based human rights violations and links anti-gay bias to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and,
2. speaking out against anti-gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender (GLBT) and anti-GLBT family legislation currently before several
state legislatures.
In an April 7th interview, Santorum, the third highest
ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, compared same-sex marriages to “man
on child, man on dog” relationships. He also described homosexuality as
“antithetical to a healthy, stable traditional family,” ignoring recent
2000 Census data showing that one in three lesbian and bisexual female couples
are raising children, as are 22 percent of gay/bisexual male couples.
“Comments comparing committed same-sex relationships to
bestiality and pedophilia are unbecoming of a United States Senator,” said
Lorri L. Jean, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“This is the gutter language of the extreme right wing in this country. And
Senator Santorum is wrong to portray gay families as ‘antithetical’ to the
institution of the family. Research shows that half to three quarters of
lesbians and gay men are in committed, caring, long-term relationships. The
2000 Census showed that 34 percent of lesbian couples and 22 percent of gay
male couples are raising children under the age of 18. It is despicable that a
United States Senator would devalue our families by presenting them as a
threat to the American family, and by comparing them to man-dog, man-child
‘relationships,’” Jean said. “We are the American family.”
Jean also challenged Santorum’s characterization of the
Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal as “a basic homosexual relationship.”
“When a man abuses a young girl, the problem is not heterosexuality,” Jean
said. “Few would characterize such abuse as a heterosexual act similar to
consensual sex between an adult man and woman. Similarly, when a man sexually
abuses a boy or underage teen, the problem is not homosexuality. The problem
is child abuse. Period.”
NGLTF understands that the U.S. may abstain from the U.N.
resolution vote, unlike many other allied and democratic countries. The vote,
originally scheduled for today, is now scheduled to take place on Friday.
“Both Congress and the media should be asking the White House why the United
States would abstain on this human rights issue, especially in light of
Santorum’s inhumane comments,” Jean said. “It is time for this
‘compassionate conservative’ administration to stand up for the rights of
all human beings. Failure to take concrete action beyond rhetoric in this and
all human rights cases will leave this administration standing in concert with
the sentiments underlying Santorum’s remarks.” More information on the
U.N. resolution can be found in the April 18th NGLTF U.N. Action Alert on the
Task Force Web site, www.ngltf.org.
Jean also called on President Bush and other political
leaders to repudiate Santorum’s comments, and to take action against the
stigmatization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) families,
particularly gay parents with children, by speaking out against anti-gay
adoption and foster care bills currently before the Texas and Oklahoma
legislatures. In Oklahoma, HB1308 would ban “a homosexual, bisexual or
lesbian” from adopting in the state. In Texas, HB 194 would prevent
homosexuals and bisexuals from serving as foster parents, and stigmatize GLB
parents and foster children by mandating that all prospective foster parents
be asked if they are homosexual or bisexual. Another Texas bill would ban
unmarried individuals from serving as foster parents. North Dakota’s
legislature just passed an anti-gay adoption bill, which awaits the Republican
governor’s signature. “These mean-spirited bills would codify the hatred
expressed by Senator Santorum,” Jean said. “This is hardly
‘compassionate conservatism.’ It is incumbent that the Republican and
Democratic leadership, including President Bush, take concrete action to
oppose these bills and speak out against laws like that in place in Florida,
which bans gay men and lesbians from adopting.”
With half a million children in the U.S. foster care
system, many of whom bounce from foster home to foster home until they turn
18, it is not in the interest of child welfare to restrict the pool of
potential parents on the basis of prejudice against their sexual orientation.
Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas and Utah currently ban lesbians, gay men, or
same-sex couples from serving as foster or adoptive parents. The Child Welfare
League of America, the nation’s premier child advocacy organization, says
that adoption “[a]pplicants should be assessed on the basis of their
abilities to successfully parent a child needing family membership and not on
their . . . sexual orientation.” The American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry and the North American Council on Adoptable Children
also support evaluating gay and lesbian applicants for adoption on the same
basis as heterosexual applicants.
Nearly 40 states have passed anti-same-sex marriage
bills, and Texas is considering its second such bill. Ohio’s legislature is
considering a bill that would ban all forms of same-sex couple recognition,
including non-economic benefits for domestic partners such as hospital
visitation and inheritance rights.
For more information on gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender family policy issues, see “Family Policy: Issues Affecting Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Families,” a comprehensive study released
by NGLTF in January 2003 and available by logging on to the NGLTF publications
library at www.ngltf.org/library.
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