New Letter to the Editor in Daily Campus: "Santorum No Hero"

Yesterday, I had a letter published in UConn's newspaper, The Daily Campus. You can view it here or below. For reference, the original article I responded to is here. 

Santorum is No Hero

John Nitkowski claims Rick Santorum is "not really a bad guy" and claims evidence of his homophobia was "taken out of context." However, that is hardly the case. Nitkowski cites a quote from Santorum saying he "doesn't have a problem with homosexuality." Let's look at that quote in context. After all, Nitkowski can do that, so can we, right? "I have no problem with homosexuality, only with homosexual acts." So in other words, as long as gay people don't do anything gay, it's ok. Basically, Santorum believes in "Don't Ask, Don't Do." How is this not homophobic?

Additionally, Santorum has said at various points in his campaign that referring to gay unions as "marriage" is like referring to a napkin as a paper towel, calling a glass of water a glass of beer, calling a tree a car, or calling a cup of tree [sic - I wrote 'tea' and this got changed] a basketball. His argument is simply "it is what it is." This is a tautological argument merely designed to perpetrate homophobia.

Finally, yes, Santorum's "man on dog" comments were taken out of context. Santorum was attempting to claim that homosexuality would lead to polygamy or bestiality. However, he failed to present any logical argument for this. Furthermore, even if we do assume it to be true, there is nothing that would stop heterosexual marriage from eventually allowing those things. After all, if a man can marry one woman, what's going to prevent him from marrying five women? Or going "man on [female] dog?" Clearly, Santorum doesn't want you do think that way. But the fact is, there is no reason to believe acceptance of homosexuality will lead to acceptance of polygamy or bestiality. If those things ever become more socially accepted, then Santorum could take up a campaign against them. But if Nitkowski is correct and those are his only targets, it seems like he is creating a problem to search for a solution. None of the candidates in this election are arguing for legalization of polygamy or bestiality. So if that's all Santorum has a problem with, why is he here now?

However, while Santorum is a blatant homophobe, he does have one commendable stance on gay rights. During a debate, Santorum criticized Iran for "trampling on the rights of gays." Then again, maybe he wants to keep his monopoly.

– Gregory Koch

The DC generally publishes letters every Friday, although did not do so the first week of the semester. I suspect this is because it only included letters written Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as opposed to Friday-Thursday. The article in question was indeed from last week.