Rick Santorum: Gay Marriage Hurts The Economy (VIDEO)

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks to a supporter after endorsing state Sen. Chris MdDaniel for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate at a Madison, Miss., rally, Thursday, June 19, 2014. McDan... Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks to a supporter after endorsing state Sen. Chris MdDaniel for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate at a Madison, Miss., rally, Thursday, June 19, 2014. McDaniel is in a runoff against long-time U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran for the GOP nomination for senate. Santorum's appearance is one of several by "name" politicians and personalities who have stumped for one of the candidates. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

In an interview Thursday, former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum floated an argument against gay marriage that’s becoming more common from those who oppose it: It is bad for the economy.

Santorum made the remarks in an interview with the conservative news outlet TownHall, while he attended the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C.

“When we continue to see a decline in marriage and a redefinition of marriage, you get less marriage,” he said. “You get families that aren’t as strong, and as a result, society generally, the economy suffers.”

Marriage, Santorum said, is not just about “a romantic relationship between two people.”

“It’s also about a unity of men and women, for the purposes of having and raising children, and giving the child their birthright, which is to be raised by their natural mother and natural father,” he continued. “When we have less of that in America … then society struggles and suffers. Economically, it suffers.”

“It’s important for us to stand up for what is best for children, what’s best for society, what’s best for the economy, and make that case,” he concluded.

Santorum’s comments follow a legal filing last month by the state of Kentucky, seeking to overturn a pro-gay marriage court ruling, in which lawyers for the state asserted that the state had an “economic interest” in banning same-sex marriage.

Watch the video:

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. What a load of claptrap.

  2. Well, when it’s Santorum it must be truthy…and frothy.

  3. Derp derp derp derp…

  4. “When we continue to see a decline in marriage and a redefinition of marriage, you get less marriage,” he said. “You get families that aren’t as strong, and as a result, society generally, the economy suffers.”

    With the lack of logic like that, I’m afraid to Google “Santorum” and “economics.”

  5. Avatar for agio agio says:

    There is zero evidence that marriage equality has any affect whatsoever on the national economy as a whole.

    For individual states that have instituted equal marriage rights, it has benefited the economy, slightly.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

116 more replies

Participants

Avatar for looby Avatar for slbinva Avatar for toodumbtoknow Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for bluestatedon Avatar for theod Avatar for red_cabbage Avatar for msinformed Avatar for sylhines Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for alyoshakaramazov Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for native8merlynder Avatar for m_b_w Avatar for billstewart2013 Avatar for daveislib Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for kitty Avatar for jimgroom Avatar for benthere Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jinnj Avatar for greggers

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: