Santorum signs anti-gay, anti-porn pledge

Cutting back on governmental spending, fighting terrorism and lowering taxes have all been key components of Rick Santorum’s presidential platform. What are the latest initiatives that the former senator is including on his campaign, though?

 Why, banning pornography and same-sex marriage, of course! Santorum has followed the lead of fellow presidential candidate Michele Bachmann by becoming the second person vying for commander in chief to sign their name to a “pro-marriage” pledge created by The Family Leader, a conservative Christian group based out of Iowa. Under the pledge, Bachmann and now Santorum have agreed to not only stay faithful with their spouses, but also make official their detest for same-sex marriage, which the vow says is analogous with polygamy.Additionally, the vow they’ve signed-off on says the politicians will take all efforts to ban “all forms of pornography and prostitution, infanticide, abortion and other types of coercion or stolen innocence,” and only appoint conservative judges.It should be noted, however, that nowhere in the pledge does it ask politicians to voice their opposition to sodomy. The definition of “santorum” as “The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex” is still the number one Google result for searches of “Rick Santorum.”Family Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats says that the group’s goal is to send The Marriage Vow out to all presidential candidates, including incumbent Barack Obama, and have signed copies returned by the first of August. Then they plan on publicizing the responses to have available at the Iowa State Fair and the Iowa Straw Poll.According to The Family Leader, "No peer-reviewed empirical science or rational demonstration has ever definitively proven, nor has even shown an overwhelming probability that homosexual preference or behavior is irresistible as a function of genetic determination or other forms of fatalism." In lay terms, Santorum just lost what was left of the gay vote. In an email to CNN, Santorum’s spokesperson Virginia Davis says, "Senator Santorum was pleased to sign the Iowa Family Leader's pledge because he is committed to standing up for traditional marriage. The bigger question here is why aren't more Republicans having the courage to stand up for the institution of marriage and signing this pledge.”Pleased to sign the ledger after a particular passage was removed, however. That was the part that said black children born into slavery were better off than those born today."Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President," read part of the preamble of the paper. Since Bachmann and Santorum signed the pledge, The Family Leader has redacted that part of the preamble, “after careful deliberation and wise insight and input from valued colleagues we deeply respect,” of course.