WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum continued his crusade against the LGBT community as he pledged to battle marriage equality on a state-by-state basis. Santorum said he promises to “fight in every state to make sure that marriage remains between one man and one woman.”
Speaking at the Value Voters Summit 2011 in Washington, Santorum continued by saying President Obama has forced military chaplains to “break the law” by performing same-sex marriages on bases.
Thinkprogress reported Santorum as saying, “The Defense of Marriage Act. The President of the United States won’t even defend the law in court. An abomination! And worse than that, just recently, he has instructed his military chaplains to marry people in direct contravention – marry gays and lesbians – in direct contravention to the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage in federal law as between a man and a woman. So not only did the president not defend the law, he has now instructed people in the military to break the law.”
But according to Thinkprogress Santorum’s rhetoric directly contradicts what the memo to military chaplains actually said: “A military chaplain may participate in or officiate any private ceremony, whether on or off a military installation, provided that the ceremony is not prohibited by applicable state and local law. Further, a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion or personal beliefs. Finally, a military chaplain’s participation in a private ceremony does not constitute an endorsement of the ceremony by DoD.”
