Posted on 07/16/2005 12:12:46 PM PDT by gopgen
Gay-rights opponent Santorum stands by outed aide
BY STEVE GOLDSTEIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The senior spokesman for Sen. Rick Santorum, R- Pa., Friday confirmed to a web log that he is gay.
According to PageOneQ, an online gay and lesbian publication, director of communications Robert L. Traynham, said that he was an "out gay man who completely supports the senator."
Santorum, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate leadership has been an outspoken opponent of homosexual rights and a leading proponent of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Santorum, who was traveling in Pittsburgh, released the following statement:
"Robert Traynham ... is widely respected and admired on Capitol Hill, both among the press corps and among the congressional staff, as a communications professional. Not only is Mr. Traynham an exemplary staffer, but he is also a trusted friend confidente to me and my family. Mr. Traynham is a valued member of my staff and I regret that this effort on behalf of people who oppose me has made him a target of bigotry in their eyes.
"It is entirely unacceptable that my staffs' personal lives are considered fair game by partisans looking for arguments to bolster my opponent's campaign. Mr. Traynham continues to have my full support and confidence as well as my prayers as he navigates this rude and mean spirited invasion of his personal life."
Mark Rodgers, chief of staff at the Republican conference, which Santorum chairs, said, "Robert is a tremendous employee and we're all for standing by him." Traynham's homosexuality was not news to the senator or his staff, he added.
In the online interview, Traynham defended his decision to work with the senator. "Sen. Santorum is a man of principle, he is a man who sticks up for what he believes in. I strongly do support Sen. Santorum.
Asked whether he supported Santorum's views on lesbian and gay issues, Traynham told PageOneQ, "Sen. Santorum is a family man. I have been with him for eight years and I am very proud to be with him."
The two-term senator is up for reelection next year. His expected Democratic opponent is State Treasurer Robert P. Casey, Jr.
Traynham began working for Santorum since 1997 as a press assistant and then deputy press secretary. He was press secretary for the senator's 2000 reelection campaign in Pennsylvania. Just prior to becoming communications director in the Senate office, Traynham served as director of communications for the Senate Republican Conference.
Traynham holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, where he currently serves on the Council of Trustees.
In supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would prohibit gay marriage, Santorum has equated homeland security with the sanctity of traditional marriage. He has referred to gay marriage as "messing with the basic family unit."
During an interview with The Associated Press two years ago about a challenge to the constitutionality of Texas's sodomy law, Santorum said that if the Supreme Court allows gay sex at home (which it ultimately did), "you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."
On the marriage issue, Santorum also said: "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."
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© 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirer's World Wide Web site, at http://www.philly.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
I always think that I am right, but it's when we agree that I feel smart too. ;-)
It's a very gratifying hobby. I don't need to spend a lot of time at it to be fulfilled for a long time.
And you have lots of time on your hands if you can count the number of threads that we've been on, even if your count is very wrong.
Maybe because ACT UP pelts churchgoers with condoms, and there is much more e-mail spam concering porn than there is pate de foie gras.
Also because (outside of the comic strip Garfield--or, by implication, Oprah Winfrey) there is no such thing as a "right to be fat" PAC.
Or (outside of say certain past and present US Senators) there is no "drunkard constituency".
As far as defending hate, it was the ACLU (libs) who defended the right of a Nazi group to march in a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago; it is still Sen. Byrd (Democrat! West Virginia) who held a high post in the KKK, has used the "N-word" publically, and is still in good standing as a senior statesman within his party; and it was the Southern DEMOCRATS in the 60s who stood in the way of the civil rights legislation (e.g. Al Gore's dad when he was a senator).
Full Disclosure: The saying goes, "A mind is like a parachute--it only works when open." But that is an incomplete analogy: A parachute is not open all the time, it is not supposed to be. It is only open when you are "up in the air" (undecided). Once you are planted firmly on the ground, leaving the parachute open will result in the parachute getting ruined, and becoming useless for its intended purpose.
Cheers!
You misunderstood me.
Yes, you'd still love your child, but would the act that he committed be any less vile? Of course not.
And you are also right that we do not agree. I don't believe that one is born into homosexuality. And even with a genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes or alcoholism or anything else, one always has the choice of whether to indulge in those acts that will bring about the affliction.
Man is supposedly predisposed to having sex with more than one woman, but for the most part, we deny the urge and stay faithful once we have selected a mate.
Are you saying that there is something wrong in their genetic makeup that they cannot control instincts and urges? Or that they are special and don't have to? I don't understand what you are arguing.
And the only reason that any of us are still alive is that someone/everyone has resisted an urge to kill. Lord knows someone has wanted to. Lord knows that I've wanted to.
I don't defend promiscuity in anyone. I don't like the gay lobby and the flaming in your face types. I do believe that homosexuality is inborn so that they cannot be attracted to the opposite sex even if they want to. Some may be "less" gay and might marry relatively happily because they enjoy the companionship, etc. and are able to maintain a sexual relationship with a woman. Some might even be able to "convert". Good for them if they want to.
Of course we can and should control our urges. My point is that there are many gays that do. They live with one person and don't bother anyone. They don't march in the streets.(My gay cousin's theory is that the marchers come from homes that don't accept them and so they are begging for attention. Also that those folks would be in the streets about something even if they weren't gay. My cousin would rather have a pickaxe to the head than march!)
You can be against the agenda but not feel that homosexuality is a perversion or that gays are lurking behind every tree to indoctrinate our children. Some here cannot get that.
I am not throwing Santorum to the wolves. He opened the gate to the cage and walked in all by himself and has been feeding and nurturing the wolves.
He has proven himself to just another sleazy and craven politician who will say and do whatever is necessary to win reelection. That makes him untrustworthy.
When we needed him the most -- to support Pat Toomey over Arlen Specter -- he chose party over principle. I've made the case a thousand times. I won't repeat it here.
I don't want Casey to win. I have also argued that he needs to be promoted to a cushy job somewhere in the administration or with a lobbying firm because he will not win. He's burned too many bridges and will not get the support of many of his base who always have worked to GOTV for him. If he steps away to something else, he saves face, the Party avoids and embarrassing loss to Casey, and a real Republican who hasn't been infected with Potomac Fever has a chance to run and win.
Santorum has changed so much since he was elected that he is barely recognizable anymore. He will still shoot off his mouth and sound like a Puritan and some people confuse that with conservatism, but he has left his conservative days behind him.
If you don't see why sexual sins are more serious than over eating, I can't help you with that one.
Speaking of creative liars. . .
You just admitted that I didn't lie, so we'll start there as your first lie in your original response to me.
Now you say that I 'creatively lied' by distorting things.
What did I distort? What was factually incorrect?
NOTHING!
You ma'am are the liar, not me and you've been caught. Again.
They are both abuse of the body that God gave us. Both show a lack of restraint and self respect. They are both sins.
Now, surely you know that I am not speaking of an extra helping of pie occasionally.
If they are engaged in homosexual activity, even monogamously, they aren't resisting their urges, They have given in to them.
Doesn't the Bible -- that you claim to believe -- say that Man shall not lie down with man as with a woman?
What do you think that means?
Doesn't bother me, sorry. I guess I'm going to Hell.
If Santorum should fire him for being a homosexual, what should the Senatory do with those caught in adultry, drunkeness or drug use?
I've read some of your other posts and apparently you would like to see people like me, who do not agree with you 100% out of the party. Guess I should vote for Casey, huh? What purpose would that serve?
If you alienate folks like me, should we stay home? Should we vote Democrat?
That's for God to decide, not me.
I guess you could say that is your choice.
I live in the philly suburbs, high income area. Most people are just the opposite here. I too worked for the party, calls and doors. People here vote security and taxes. Moral issues either leave them cold or actively turn them away. Women especially.
Probably depends on the demographics of an area.
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