Brody's Notes... Santorum Talks Sodomy Laws & Tells Anti-Gay Host Bradlee Dean: " I don’t believe in hate crimes, period.”

 Then Senator Rick Santorum conceding in 2006 Election Loss 

By Brody Levesque | ANNANDALE, MINNESOTA -- Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum, who is struggling to keep his campaign afloat as his polling numbers continue to slide further down away from GOP front runners Mitt Romney, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and former pizza magnate Herman Cain, appeared on the notoriously anti-gay preacher Bradlee Dean's Sons of Liberty radio programme Saturday, denouncing same-sex marriage rights, advocating for sodomy laws, and telling Dean that he doesn't believe in hate crimes.

Speaking about same-sex marriage, Santorum said:

"This is not about gay marriage, it is about changing what is right and wrong and fundamentally changing what people of faith can say and do in society,” Santorum said on Dean’s radio show. “The ultimate objective here is to drive faith out of the public square, to drive morality out of the laws of this country, to secularize our society with a different set of values.” 

Adding that he felt that the characterisation of those opposed to same-sex marriage as bigots was uncalled for telling Dean:

“The reason that people don’t talk about it like I do is that you are vilified by the mainstream media, by Hollywood, by the educational establishment, all of the levers of power,” Santorum said. “Even the conservative media when it comes to these issues are hesitant to talk about them, it’s not polite conversation.”

He then turned to the landmark case, Lawrence v. Texas, where the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Texas sodomy laws- making it defacto effective elsewhere in the United States as a result of the ruling- that were used to imprison gays and lesbians.

[...]

“And I stood up from the very beginning back in 2003 when the Supreme Court was going create a constitutional right to sodomy and said this is wrong we can’t do this,” Santorum said. ”And so I stood up when no one else did and got hammered for it. I stood up and I continue to stand up.”

He then added: “I do not believe that sexual orientation should be added to hate crimes, but let me be honest, I don’t believe in hate crimes, period.

Santorum’s appearance on the Sons of Liberty marks the first time a current presidential candidate has shared the airwaves with Dean. Dean has hosted Rep. Michele Bachmann in recent years, both on the radio program and at ministry fundraisers – Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty have also been interviewed on the program.

Dean courted controversy earlier this year when he gave the invocation before a session of the Minnesota House, a flap that cause House Speaker Kurt Zellers to apologize and reconvene the House with a prayer by the House chaplain.Long an opponent of homosexuality, Dean has accused some gays and lesbians of targeting children and asserted that “[o]n average, [homosexuals] molest 117 people before they’re found out,” though Dean later blogged that he meant paedophiles. He has also frequently called for the enforcement of sodomy laws, which were once used to imprison gays and lesbians in the United States. ~ The Minnesota  Independent