Rick Santorum: I would NOT attend a same-sex wedding

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Republican former Senator Rick Santorum has said attending a same-sex wedding would be a “violation” of his faith.

The former Senator for Pennsylvania, who is widely expected to run for president again, was asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt if he would “attend a same-sex wedding of a loved one or a family friend or anyone you were close to?”

Mr Santorum replied: “No I would not.”

Asked why, he struggled to answer for a moment before saying: “As a person of my faith, that would be something that would be a violation of my faith.

“I would love them and support them but I would not participate in that ceremony.”

Presidential candidate Marco Rubio yesterday said he would attend a same-sex wedding ceremony, despite being personally opposed.

He said: “If there’s somebody that I love that’s in my life, I don’t necessarily have to agree with their decisions or the decisions they’ve made to continue to love them and participate in important events.”

Mr Santorum was also asked, in the same interview, whether voters should care more about whether “a candidate will attend a gay wedding or knowing if he or she will destroy the Islamic State before it throws hundreds if not thousands of gay men to their death?”

He replied “It is amazing that the left has not risen up and looked at Sharia Law, at Iran, looked how they treat homosexuals, and condemn them, and focus their energy on that.

“They don’t focus on anything but their attempt to gather more power here in this country by using this issue of same-sex marriage as a tool to do that.

“The answer is defending human rights everywhere, that’s something that a person should be involved in, and if I were to run for president and get elected that’s what I would do.”

Rick Santorum has previously claimed gays are “silencing the church”. 

He has also claimed people who oppose same-sex marriage are being sent to re-education camps.