Spectacular Stupid Rick Santorum Worries About Gays And Lesbians Showering With Their Straight Military Colleagues; Also Explains How He Differentiates Between Race And Sexual Orientation

Former Pennsylvania governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum intensified his recent comments opposing allowing openly gay soldiers to serve in the U.S. military, invoking the image of soldiers showering together to explain his support for reinstating the discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Santorum, reports The Huffington Post, said "The problem is that sexual activity with people who you are in close quarters with who happen to be of the same sex is different than being open about your sexuality." Fox host Chris Wallace pushed back, asking Santorum if he was suggesting gay soldiers would "go after" their colleagues."They're in close quarters, they live with people, they obviously shower with people," Santorum said, saying the presence of gay soldiers could have an adverse "effect on retention and recruitment." Wallace played a clip of Santorum insisting during a recent Republican primary debate that the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" was an improper injection of "social policy" into the armed forces, and then presented a quote from a former military official to Santorum and asked whether he agreed with its basic idea: "The army is not a sociological laboratory. ... Experiments ... are a danger to efficiency, discipline and morale and would result in ultimate defeat." Santorum, looking uncomfortable, said that he did agree with the general idea of the statement. Wallace then revealed that the quote was from Colonel E.R. Householder, a World War II-era official whose comments were made in opposition to the racial integration of the military. Santorum responded by attempting to distinguish between racial discrimination and discrimination based on sexual orientation, denouncing the former, while insisting the latter is an acceptable condemnation of inappropriate "behaviour." Santorum added that “I know the whole gay community is trying to make this the new Civil Rights Act. It's not the same thing. You are black by the color of your skin. You are not homosexual, necessarily, by the color of your skin." Santorum also appeared to take issue with Wallace’s contention that there was a biological aspect to being gay, calling it a "behavioural issue,” telling Wallace “The idea that somehow or another that this is the equivalent, that being black and being gay is the same is simply not true. There are all sorts of studies out there that suggest just the contrary. And there are people who were gay, and lived the gay lifestyle, and aren’t anymore. I don’t think that’s the case with anybody that’s black.”