Rick Santorum: Gay Marriage Discourages Straight Marriage - VIDEO

Bill O'Reilly invited Rick Santorum to appear on his show following Grosse Pointe High School's decision this week to re-invite the failed presidential candidate to speak after a cancelation and complaints from Santorum that his "free speech rights" were being trampled on.

Santorum said it was "disappointing" that parents were being made to sign a permission slip for their kids to see him speak "as if there's something that that person could do to harm your child."

After a discussion about how marriage equality is winning because it's being framed as a civil rights issue, O'Reilly asked Santorum if he believed that gay marriage would be "discouraging heterosexual marriage."

Said Santorum:

“Yeah, I believe we would. And because we'd be saying that marriage isn't about children. Isn't about having children. Isn't about raising children. And when we say that, then of course, the consequences are you're probably going to have less children. It's happening as we see it. It's already happening in America. Before this whole gay marriage debate, we really have seen a change in what marriage is in America."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(on top via tncrm)

Rick Santorum Invited Back to Michigan High School After Cancellation

Yesterday I reported that Rick Santorum was outraged after Dr. Thomas Harwood, the superintendent of Grosse Pointe High School in Michigan, canceled an appearance because Santorum hadn't provided a copy of his speech in advance. Santorum freaked out, saying his "free speech rights" had been violated.

Santorum has now been invited back, ClickonDetroit reports:

Harwood says parents will now be able to sign a permission slip to decide if students can attend the event to hear Santorum speak.

This compromise was reached between the school administration and the South student club Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), the event organizers.

The district says students participating in YAF raised $18,000 to bring Santorum to Michigan.

Rick Santorum Froths Over 'Free Speech Rights' After Michigan High School Cancels His Appearance

Rick Santorum's appearance at Grosse Pointe High School in Michigan was canceled by the school's superintendent Dr. Thomas Harwood after Santorum refused to provide an advance copy of his speech, the Detroit News reports:

Harwood was told he could not preview the speech intended for more than 1,700 students during an assembly at the public high school and that Santorum never spoke before high school students, Fannon said.

Harwood met with Grosse Pointe High School principal Matt Outlaw and student Peter Fox, who was instrumental in getting Santorum to accept the invitation, and informed them of the decision, Fannon said. Parents were informed via email the same day, she said.

"The district just wanted to make sure the speech was focused on leadership. And when they were unwilling to review the speech, we couldn't allow them to come," Fannon said.

"As a public school system, we must be neutral, and we can't impose a position that is not neutral during a school activity during the school day," she said.

An outraged Santorum released a statement about the cancelation:

"It's a sad day when liberal educators are allowed to influence young minds - extending free speech rights only to those who share their liberal views.  I support traditional marriage; I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman.  I'm not sure what the administrators in the Grosse Pointe Public School System are afraid of, but these students deserve the respect to form their own opinion on this important issue.

"Furthermore, anyone who has ever seen me speak knows I rarely use prepared text.  In the case of Grosse Pointe High School - I was never asked for a copy of a speech, nor did I send one.  This has nothing to do with the content of a speech, but rather the context of my convictions."

Rick Santorum: GOP Would Be 'Suicidal' to Embrace Gay Marriage

Rick Santorum spoke with the Des Moines Register by telephone yesterday in an interview that dealt with his plans for 2016, the Supreme Court's arguments on marriage, and the Republican party's position on marriage equality.

Santorum said that supporting same-sex marriage "is not a well thought-out position by the American public" and it would be a death wish for the GOP to embrace it:

“I’m sure you could go back and read stories, oh, you know, ‘The Republican party’s going to change. This is the future.’ Obviously that didn’t happen,” Santorum said. “I think you’re going to see the same stories written now and it’s not going to happen. The Republican party’s not going to change on this issue. In my opinion it would be suicidal if it did.”

Santorum also predicted that SCOTUS will rule against same-sex marriage:

“I think you’ll see, hopefully, a chastened Supreme Court is not going to make the same mistake in the (current) cases as they did in Roe v. Wade. I’m hopeful the Supreme Court learned its lesson about trying to predict where the American public is going on issues and trying to find rights in the Constitution that sit with the fancy of the day.”

He also said that running in 2016 is still an unknown but he is frothing at the idea of it:

“I haven’t made any decisions, certainly hoping to do that.”

Rick Santorum Says 'Will & Grace' to Blame for Gay Marriage: VIDEO

Tea Party Report's Susie Sampson posts a clip from a closed Q&A session at the recent CPAC conference in which Rick Santorum pins the blame for the demise of the entire "traditional marriage" movement on Will & Grace. It's actually something he's said before in other contexts.

See what a few gay people on the street think of that, AFTER THE JUMP...

Santorum: Gay Marriage is No Less Unnatural Just Because Rob Portman Changed His Mind - VIDEO

Failed presidential candidate Rick Santorum was asked his opinion of Senator Rob Portman's (R-OH) decision to support marriage equality.

Said Santorum (my transcript):

"Well I'm not changing my opinion on that issue. The bottom line is that marriage is a foundational institutution of our society and one that we need to encourage for the benefit of our children and for the future of our society. Marriage is a thing of nature. Men and women come together and form the bond by which to raise the next generation. No other relationship - you can call it marriage - but no other relationship accomplishes what real marriage accomplishes. IF you want to change what marriage is. If marriage is just two people loving each other, or three or four people loving each other you can call anything marriage. But that's not what marriage is. Marriage is something of nature. It's something that every civilization in the history of man has recognized as a very valuable bedrock of society. Just because people change their mind doesn't make anything less so."

Watch this and a CNN interview, AFTER THE JUMP...